


Their son

by AniZH



Series: Young parents [1]
Category: Victorious
Genre: F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-07-26 06:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 112,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7563187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniZH/pseuds/AniZH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tori starts attending Hollywood Arts only at the end of her junior year. After she already knows everyone for one and a half months and is about to do Uptown, Downtown, Jade walks into school with a child in her arms. With her and Beck's child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tori the Zombie Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I toyed for this idea for along time, already starting back when I wrote on Family bliss or even earlier.  
> The idea of this is, after I've seen several stories in which Jade gets pregnant as a teenager and stuff, that I wanted to see Beck and Jade with a child at that age and being used to it. So, Tori only starts attending Hollywood Arts at the end of junior year and it's out of her perspective. I want to rewrite the whole series with the thought of Beck and Jade having a child - though it won't all be very big rewrites. Most will be just that that child is around when there are scenes at Tori's home with the whole gang or something. Though I also will cut a few episodes, namely Locked Up!, Who Did It To Trina?, Blooptorious, April Fools' Blank, How Trina Got In and Opposite Date. I could imagine other episodes following that list over time but those are most certainly out. Trina will also graduate at the end of that first school year Tori starts to attend, so... But she will be around otherwise and I hope I can work with that for all the other episodes which will take place in a span of a year and a few months.  
> Well, and Jade and Beck won't break up in the run of this story. So, there are definitely changes ahead which I haven't fully worked through.  
> The first four episodes remain pretty much unchanged, so I start out with the fifth but only briefly (but very much changed) and then get into the sixth episode which will have this and the next chapter. Every other episode will only have one chapter - most episodes will have to share theirs. So, there will be a few chapters that will include three to four episodes, which means the story will have about... twenty chapters all in all. Most will probably have between 4k to 5k words.  
> As the story will be quite long, I didn't dare to upload it right away when I was finished with this first chapter. Instead I have already ten chapters written though not reread and corrected. This way, I hope I will be able to upload once per week without break. If you want to read something certain (also for a certain episode), feel still free to write that to me. I'm still able to make changes if it works out better than what I've already written.  
> Okay. Beck is also very talkative throughout the story but I guessed he's used to explaining the situation by now and does so. I hope it doesn't seem to be too out of character for you (and that it doesn't seem like too much tell instead of show).  
> Oh, and as I'm rewriting the series but not all that much, I keep many of the dialogues of the series itself. Those of course don't belong to me, just like the characters.  
> But now enough talking from me, definitely. I just hope you enjoy this story!

Tori starts attending Hollywood Arts right after spring break of her junior year. She doesn’t know if she’ll be able to catch up with all the arts, is it already almost senior year, but apparently, people transfer to the school regularly, also as late as that.  
She also quickly feels like she’s fitting in. Yes, she has troubles at first with Jade but on the other hand is fast friends with Andre, Beck, Cat and Robbie. And somehow, she gets used to Jade as well and Jade also to her apparently, especially after that stage fight “incident” where Jade may have lied big time at first but has still also helped Tori in the end with her punishment.  
It’s in the middle of May, Tori attending the school for one and a half months now and already feeling extremely comfortable, that she witnesses Beck and Jade fighting for the second time, actually fighting, not just bickering a little bit. They have fought very big after Tori’s and Beck’s unscripted stage kiss. She has been sure they would break up. Now, they are fighting again because of Alyssa Vaugnh.  
And they involve Tori. Great. Tori doesn’t want to be involved at all but they don’t let her go and finally, Jade actually seems like she wants to break up with Beck.  
“You know what?” she loudly asks, in the middle of the hallway, Tori standing right with them.  
“Tell me what!” Beck demands and Tori can’t help but saying “no, no, don’t tell him what”. She knows, Jade will break up with him.  
For a second, Jade clenches her teeth as she angrily looks at Beck before she spits out: “Just leave me alone!”  
And she walks away. Well... That hasn’t been her breaking up, has it?  
Beck looks after her, then closes his eyes, takes a deep breath.  
“Sorry for all of this,” he then says before he actually follows Jade. The next time Tori sees them, everything seems okay with them again, just like after their last fight she has quickly run away from anyway after she has heard a few words of it in the parking lot.

 

It’s a few days later and they get further into their preparations for Uptown, Downtown, for which Tori has gotten the lead which she feels pretty blessed about. She talks to Andre right now at his locker about the songs she has to learn until the end of the week and which he wants to help her with.  
She just leans at the lockers next to Andre’s, sighing slightly at how much work she still has to do for that play, all with being nervous at how it will turn out, when she sees Jade coming into school, looking as annoyed as every morning. But she isn’t alone. And she also isn’t with Beck like she otherwise always is in the mornings as they drive to school together. Instead, a young boy sits in her arms. He may be one year old, could have possibly just started toddling. He has dark brown to black hair, a darker skin tone than Jade and piercing blue-green eyes with which he curiously looks around as he sucks on a pacifier.  
“Where did Jade steal him?” Tori says confused as she watches Jade walking to her locker with him.  
Andre turns around to see what she’s talking about and as soon as he looks at Jade, he grins brightly: “Oh, they finally brought Benji again.”  
“Benji?” Tori asks, drawing her eyebrows together. She doesn’t know who Benji is. Though she has a feeling she already heard that name with her friends. Possibly as Jade and Beck have fought after the stage kiss. And two weeks ago at lunch fleetingly by Cat while Tori herself has talked to Robbie though.  
Well... Who is this child?  
“Their son,” Andre merely answers as he closes his locker and then walks over to Jade.  
Tori is sure she has misheard. Their son? Whose son? Jade’s?  
She hurries to follow Andre who greets the odd pair: “Hey, Jade. And hello, little Benji!”  
The child beams at him, spits out the pacifier that doesn’t fall to the ground as it’s fixated at his clothes with a clip, and starts babbling happily. Jade shortly glances to Andre, doesn’t say a word but promptly hands the child over to him, before she turns back to her locker.  
Tori notices that Jade actually has two bags with her. A smaller one from which she – now both hands free for it – pulls a book, putting it into the locker and getting some other book from the locker into the bag which is filled with all she needs for school, which she has with her every day. The second bag is bigger and packed, as Tori will only find out later, with diapers, baby food, toys and even a blanket.  
“Long time, no seen, little buddy,” Andre meanwhile says to the young boy.  
The boy babbles again and Andre chuckles as if he understood something before he turns to Jade again: “So, why’d you bring him today?”  
Jade rolls her eyes as she closes her locker again. “My mom had to go on a long business trip and Beck’s parents couldn’t take time off of work this time. So he’ll be around for two weeks.”  
“I love when he’s here,” Andre says. “I can take him whenever you need some room.”  
Okay, Tori doesn’t understand. So, this is really Jade’s son? That boy sittig in Andre’s arms? And she has just mentioned Beck’s parents... Does that mean...?  
She barely has time to finish that thought when Beck suddenly is with them. He has two coffee cups in his hands and while he gives one of them to Jade and shares a kiss with her, Benji already squeals: “Dada.”  
“Hey, Benji,” Beck says and Benji already leans into his direction with open arms.  
Beck also promptly opens his arm without the coffee cup and Andre puts the child into it.  
“Have had a good night of sleep?” Beck asks the boy.  
Tori doesn’t know if the child is old enough to understand questions like that yet but at least he must have understood that it had been a question by Beck’s intonation. And he seems to know that you can nod or shake your head to some questions and he actually nods and babbles some more.  
Jade tilts her head, looking with raised eyebrows at the boy. “Well... It wasn’t such a good night. But we survived.”  
Beck gives the boy a kiss on the cheek before he says: “I’m glad all three of us will be together again for the next two weeks.”  
He shares another kiss with Jade who smiles, and Tori finally has to ask: “So, who’s this?”  
Beck turns to her. “Oh, yeah, you haven’t met him yet. This is Benjamin. Benji, this is a new friend of ours, Tori.”  
The boy babbles something that could with a lot of fantasy be a greeting. But this still doesn’t explain anything.  
Jade obviously notices her confused face and links her arm with Beck’s free one: “He’s our son.”  
For a second, Tori’s about to ask why she doesn’t know about any child of theirs but she knows Jade will taunt her for not having known and she doesn’t feel like being taunted at all. So, she just says to the little boy: “Hi. It’s so nice to meet you.”  
“Benji!” And that’s Cat, screaming excitedly from pretty much the end of the hallway as she comes running to them, Robbie and Rex also walking up to them behind her.  
“Oh, god,” Jade murmurs annoyed as Cat jumps in front of Beck and pulls little Benji out of his arms. Beck lets her and Benji also doesn’t seem too unnerved as Cat plants a kiss on his cheek and says in a happy voice: “I haven’t seen you for over two weeks! I missed you so much! We’ll spend every minute together today.”  
“You won’t,” Jade says.  
Cat pouts. “But he missed me, too. Look at him!”  
She puts her fingers on his face and pushes his cheeks in so Benji makes a weird face which Robbie has to chuckle about while Jade rolls her eyes, hands her coffee to Beck as she says: “Give me my child.”  
She takes the boy out of Cat’s arm and in the same move starts walking away from the group, through the hallway and possibly to her first class.  
“See you later,” Beck tells everyone with a smile before he follows her.  
“N’aw. Why don’t I have my first class with them?” Cat asks sadly as the bell rings.  
The rest of the group also breaks apart and Andre and Tori start walking to their first class. Well, and Tori can definitely trust Andre not to taunt her for not knowing and she does want to know more about this and Andre must be able to tell, so she says: “I didn’t know they have a child.”  
“You didn’t?” Andre asks surprised and as she shrugs, he continues: “Huh. I guess we haven’t talked about him much recently. That’s weird. They used to bring him every day last year. Jade’s Mom still had to work at day as well back then and they had long talks with the school, after they knew they wanted to keep him, to make sure it could be done and Jade wouldn’t have to take a year off school or something. She only took one month off and then Benji was always with one of them during school. But he slowly got more mobile and couldn’t just sleep in their arms for a whole lesson anymore and Jade’s Mom succeeded in being transferred to only deal with clients from other countries with different time zones this year, which is why she works in the evenings. So she usually takes care of him over the day and Jade and Beck do it after. Beck’s parents are also involved as much as they can be and take care of him when Jade’s Mom’s sick or on business trips which usually last longer now than before, I think, as she has to travel to much farther places. Well, but that’s usually when Beck’s parents come in. Or when Beck and Jade both have to stay in school longer. You know, for a play or something. Or for other school events where they can’t really bring him.”  
Tori has to process those informations. She can’t even imagine how they are making that work. They have to be exhausted, going to school full time and then still taking care of a child after. Being responsible for it. Or even taking care of it at school for the first few months of the baby’s life.  
“That’s amazing,” Tori says. “When did they have him?”  
Andre doesn’t have to think long about that: “Seventh of March last year. Jade stayed home until after Spring break with him and learned for school at home. They were both sixteen and they didn’t even date for a year when she got pregnant.”  
They arrive in the classroom and sit down in their chairs and Andre looks at a few giggling girls not far away from them as he continues: “I remember how many girls said she only got pregnant to keep him bound to her forever. Some of them were really cruel to her. But she told them that she wouldn’t potentially ruin her future with having a child at her age to bind some guy to her she may hate in a year. She was right of course. As if she would’ve planned something like that.”  
To be honest, Tori could’ve imagined Jade doing something like that, the way she behaves with Beck. On the other hand... It’s not like she’s stupid. Yes, why should she risk ruining her future just like that, after they haven’t even been dating for a year, just to keep him. She definitely also could’ve started hating him somewhere along the lines. But she didn’t.  
“But they’re still together,” she notices which is a tall order. She knows that even older couples sometimes have trouble keeping together as having a child changes so much.  
Andre nods. “It was tough though. They broke up during the pregnancy for a week or something. And then again, when Benji was... two months old or something. For a month back then. I think they got back together during our finals. I remember how they sometimes didn’t even exchang a word while they gave Benji to the other one.”  
Tori raises her eyebrows, surprised yet again: “They still both took care of him?” Though they were broken up and possibly fought even more than now?  
“Yeah, definitely,” Andre says. “I don’t think it would’ve worked otherwise. Even like that, both of them were so stressed all the time.” He hesitates for a second, then, with a low voice: “But it also seemed important to Jade. Her own father isn’t... the best, you know. And she always wanted Beck to take care of his son. And Beck obviously also wanted Jade and him both to be in the life of their child. Well... After a month, they realized that they loved each other despite all the difficulties and got back together. Their relationship has been better since then. They still fight, as you already know, but... They also keep together.”  
That’s impressive. Suddenly, Tori thinks she was right in believing Jade wanted to break up with Beck only a few days ago. But possibly, she thought about Benji and about both of them loving each other despite everything and she hasn’t broken up because of that. And Beck saw that in her eyes, needed a few seconds to calm down himself but then followed her because yes, he loves her despite everything. And they probably talked it out after that because they want to be with each other, also having a child with each other and everything.  
Right before the teacher comes into the room, Tori says: “I can’t believe I know them for one and a half months now and haven’t known they have a child.”  
Andre just shrugs with a light smile.

 

Their period right before lunch is study hall for the whole school, where they get time to practice and rehearse for their creative classes, where teachers can put extra rehearsals into with everyone having time to attend, where every teacher is supposed to be available for their students for extra advice.  
They have another rehearsal for Uptown, Downtown this time and it’s only in the theater that Tori sees Benji again.  
Beck sits in one of the chairs with him on his lap, the big bag Jade has carried with her in the morning next to him and his own bag. Robbie and Rex talk to Benji with him watching curiously and Beck smilingly stroking his hair. Andre also stands with them and listens to Robbie.  
“Hey, everyone,” Tori greets them and they answer her greeting before Andre asks: “Ready for rehearsal?”  
“Definitely,” she answers because she is. But at the moment, she is again much more thinking about Benji. She has almost forgotten about him in her first lessons as she hasn’t seen him. But there sits Beck with his son on his lap, looking so damn used to it, just like everyone in the theater looks used to having Benji there. None of the other students in the room look at the small boy weirdly or anything. Well, Andre has said he has been in school with Beck and Jade for over half a year, apparently every single day.  
“What will he do while we rehearse?” Tori now asks curiously, also asking herself how they managed for half a year if they still did plays and everything. Though it’s only after she asks that she guesses their friends and possibly the teacher were also able to take him during rehearsal for different scenes, and for the performance of course their parents would take him out of their hands.  
Beck shrugs as he answers: “Well, Jade and I don’t have many scenes together. The other one can keep him busy during it.”  
Okay, that’s true for this play. They don’t have many scenes together and it will be easy to keep their son between them.  
And that’s the moment, Jade walks into the theater, putting her bag down next to Beck’s and Benji promptly stretches his arms to her as he sees her, squealing: “Mama.”  
Jade rolls her eyes. “Why don’t you stay with your daddy a little while longer?”  
Benji probably doesn’t understand her but gets that her crossed arms mean she isn’t about to take him. The corners of his mouth drop down and in the next second his whole face scrunches up and he starts crying.  
“N’aw, Mommy will take you,” Beck promptly promises him, rubbing his back, and Jade may roll her eyes again but does take him then.  
Benji doesn’t calm down in an instant but Jade turns slightly away as she starts rocking him and whispering something to him that Tori can’t hear and which finally makes him become calmer again. And this makes Jade look so much like a mother. Though Tori still can’t believe it. She can’t believe Beck is already a father but she can believe even less that Jade is a mother. And apparently a very caring one as she otherwise also probably wouldn’t have the child anymore, especially at her age.  
Their director comes in, pretty much as soon as Benji has calmed down and lies in Jade’s arm exhausted, and directly wants to get started.  
They are supposed to do the first scene and Beck kisses Jade while he rubs Benji’s back with his hand, then he goes to the stage.  
Beck and Jade truly can hand the boy over to the other one most of the time (and Benji doesn’t insist with staying with one of them). In today’s rehearsal they only share one scene for which Beck gives the child to Robbie who isn’t in that same scene and who doesn’t even seem to want to pick up Rex like he otherwise does as soon as he doesn’t have to be in character anymore.  
Benji keeps silent mostly. He has his pacifier in his mouth and seems even sleepy in between.  
He does apparently watch the scene, Tori has with just Robbie and Beck where she is about to decide between them. First, she talks to Robbie and then, the lights go to Beck and Benji instantly and happily says: “Dada!”  
He babbles some more and Tori has to look into his direction. He sits on Jade’s lap who has her phone in one of her hands, apparently not interested in their scene. Now, she rubs over the boy’s belly and Tori clearly hears her whisper: “Sh, baby. Your daddy has to do a scene.”  
“Concentration,” the director warns and Tori knows it’s her that is meant with that.  
She quickly looks into her script and then says her line: “I don’t know.”  
Beck easily answers, doesn’t seem distracted by his son at all and Tori tries her best to follow suit. Apparently, Jade also succeeds in calming Benji down again, and everything goes well until the cue for the lights come and Sinjin instead turns on some disco music with the lights for it.  
While everyone turns around to him confused, Jade promptly stands up, holding Benji in front of her with her hand between his legs, turning around and angrily asking: “What up with the disco?”  
Tori definitely wouldn’t have raised her voice like that in front of any child but apparently, Benji doesn’t mind all that much. Instead, he seems pretty interested in the situation, just starts hopping up and down in his mother’s arms.  
“I’m sorry. I hit the wrong thing,” Sinjin defends himself but Jade answers almost screaming: “No! Seventeen years ago, your mother gave birth to the wrong thing!”  
And with that she sits back down, huffing slightly as she gets back on her phone.  
The director quickly stands up, checking his own phone: “Well, why don’t we take a break? Tori, Beck, you were great, though, Tori, you have to watch not getting distracted by anything.”  
Tori nods. She has realized that.  
Robbie stands up from the seat he has taken, Rex on his hand. “How was I?”  
“I’ve seen worse,” the director says. Yikes. That’s not nice.  
Tori wants to ask Beck if the director always is like that (she hasn’t worked with him before and Robbie isn’t that bad) when Jade stands up again, holding Benji almost carelessly again and yet somehow secure, as she looks at her phone and saying: “Guys, guys, everyone shut up a second.”  
She moves further into the middle of the room and everyone else does as well as Beck asks: “What you got?”  
“An e-mail from Principal Eikner,” Jade answers and Tori has to ask: “That says?”  
Wow. If Tori would’ve thought about it beforehand, she probably would’ve been sure Jade couldn’t use her glare as well with her child in her arms. Well... She is able to use it and it somehow seems even scarier this way.  
Only slowly, she turns back to her phone after she has glared at Tori, then she reads the e-mail that says that Sophia Michelle will attend the opening night performance of their play.  
“Who’s Sophia Michelle?” Tori asks, seeing everyone else’s excitement.  
“Oh, no, no, no,” Jade instantly makes, takes her son in the arm with which hand she also holds her phone and then she grabs Beck’s hand with her free one and drags him with her back to her chair where she sits down.  
“What?” Tori asks.  
Beck starts massaging Jade’s shoulders lightly as if to calm her down while she says annoyed: “She gets to be the lead and she doesn’t even know who Sophia Michelle is.”  
Robbie explains that she is the playwright and Jade is long back on her phone when the director comes back in and tells them they have to be even better now. He leaves when Rex reminds him of Robbie being a prominent role in the play and suddenly, Sinjin turns the disco music back on.  
Jade is on her feet in a second. “Will you kill the disco?”  
Sinjin claims that nobody can kill disco which makes not only give Jade an exaggarated groan but Sinjin does turn it off again.  
Beck meanwhile takes Benji out of Jade’s arms, his copy of the play still also in his hand.  
“And? What did you think of that scene?” he asks him as if they didn’t get interrupted by that whole disco incident.  
But while Benji has been all excited when the lights has gone on Beck, he now seems rather tired again, just leans against his shoulder without a noise.  
Jade smirks as she sits back down on her chair, picking up her copy of the play on which she has sat before. “Obviously he was pretty much bored by the scene.”  
Beck pouts. “Is that true, Benji? That makes me sad. But you like scenes with your mommy much better, huh?”  
“Of course, he does,” Jade claims, still smirking and Beck leans down with a smile and they share a short kiss.  
The director comes back and declares the break for ended and they get back to work. They barely get anything done though. The director is way too unnerved, gives weird advice, and then there’s already the bell for lunch.  
Tori hears Jade telling Beck that he should get her some food while she will go change Benji. She wonders where she will change him – she will find out the next day that apparently they are allowed to change him in Lane’s office, just like they can lay him down there after lunch for a nap with Lane watching over him.  
But now, Tori remembers that Cat and she have agreed during the weekend already that they would go eat out of school today, and so she goes to ask her if that’s still happening. She isn’t sure if Cat still wants to eat lunch just with her with Benji around and Cat obviously wanting to spend time with the boy.  
But Cat agrees instantly again – and somehow makes Tori agree being her model for some scary make up.

 

She briefly sees Benji at the end of school day again as Beck straps him into the baby seat in the back of his car while Jade sits down in the front passenger’s seat.  
This is really crazy. Beck and Jade actually have a child. They are barely seventeen and they have a one-year-old son together. And she already knows them for one and a half months but hasn’t known about Benji up until now. She can’t believe it.  
The next morning, Benji of course is back and everyone in their group of friends again talks happily to him before class in front of Jade’s locker.  
“I’ll have him for first class, yes?” Beck asks as the bell rings.  
Jade nods and so, Andre who has had Benji in his arms, hands him to Beck again. He also already has the big bag for Benji over his shoulder and Tori, who has the same first class, now asks: “Can I take something?”  
“No, thanks,” Beck says and he and Jade share a kiss before the group breaks apart again. Tori walks to class with Beck. It’s History for them and Tori’s excited to see how Benji will behave. She hasn’t shared an actual class with him yet, where they are expected to sit quiet and listen.  
Mrs. Turner smiles as she comes in and sees Benji. Apparently, she hasn’t seen him in the hallway before.  
“I’ve heard he would be around again,” she says. “Oh, and look how you have grown.”  
Benji isn’t as excited as he has been when every one of their group of friends has greeted him in the morning. He looks rather sceptical to their teacher but she smiles nonetheless and starts the lesson without further ado.  
Beck keeps Benji on his lap the whole lesson through. First, the boy grabs one of Beck’s pens and for a second it seems like he wants to scribble all over Beck’s paper like Beck himself writes on it, then he just puts it into his mouth and Beck takes it out and gives him a toy out of his bag. It’s some rattle which Benji shortly and happily makes a few noises with which makes some other students look and partly smile in his direction as well as the teacher, then he starts biting on it. That also explains the bite marks on the rattle and apparently, Beck has pulled it out exactly for that or at least allows Benji to do it as he doesn’t pull the rattle out of his mouth.  
There isn’t much else, Benji does. He seems satisfied with his rattle, curiously looks around from Beck’s lap but keeps silent mostly, babbles a few times in between but Beck always softly whispers something in his ear and makes him calm down with that again.  
“He’s so well behaved,” Tori says as soon as the class ends and everyone packs up their things.  
Beck smiles. “Well, he has his good and his bad days. He’s extremely easy at the moment over the day.”  
He doesn’t look like he can be anything but easy. Maybe, he’s like Beck in a lot of ways, pretty relaxed and calm. Tori wonders if that means he also has phases where he’s like Jade, angry and loud.

 

They go to their acting class together where Jade, Andre and Cat are already standing together, talking.  
This time, Benji doesn’t have to strech his arms out for Jade and cry for her, she directly takes him out of Beck’s arms as they share a kiss.  
“Have you learned much about our country’s history?” she asks the little boy with a smirk and then nods which makes Benji nod as well. Beck chuckles and plants a kiss on her temple before both of them sit down and Jade lets Benji down on the floor. He’s already curiously looking around again, and now he starts toddling through the room, falling down every now and then, but he doesn’t start crying at any point, instead he directly stands up again and keeps going.  
Cat sits down on one of the chairs and tries to get his attention. “Wanna play something, Benji? Come on. Play something with me.”  
Benji doesn’t even look in her direction though but through the whole room, to the board and the walls.  
Beck smiles and gets the rattle out of the bag he has given Benji in their ealier class as well and has then packed up again with his own things.  
“Try this,” he says and throws the rattle to Cat. Benji instantly turns as he hears the noise and looks happily to Cat as she starts rattling it.  
Tori has to smile herself as she sees the bright grin in Benji’s face. He’s so adorable.  
She looks further to Beck and Jade. Beck has put his arm back around Jade, Jade leans against him and both watch Benji as he now walks over to Cat on unstable legs.  
And in that moment, as they sit there, watching their son... They do look like parents in a way. Which is so weird.  
Benji meanwhile has stopped in front of Cat and reaches for the rattle that Cat suddenly throws a few feet away. “Go get it, Benji,” she says.  
Benji does turn and toddles in the direction of the rattle but Jade warningly says: “Cat! He’s not a dog.”  
Tori is more than glad that she’s not Cat, the way Jade glares at her, but Cat returns the look innocently. “But it looks so cute how he walks.”  
Which is true, it’s adorable how he walks to the toy, then stoops almost falling down to pick it up and then stumbles back to Cat, babbling excitedly.  
Jade threatens though: “If you do that again, I’m sure you won’t walk again.”  
“Phui!” Cat makes and truly doesn’t throw the rattle again as Benji gives it back. Benji is already uninterested in it anyway. He stumbles forward and up the stage and still looks around with pretty much the whole class watching and smiling about him, when Sikowitz finally comes in.  
He directly scoots Benji up without the child protesting. “Little Benji is finally visiting again. Hello there.”  
Benji babbles something, only shortly looking at him, then looking around again but not wriggling himself free out of Sikowitz’ arm.  
“I have an idea,” Sikowitz says. “Why doesn’t everybody improvise a scene with Benji?”  
“No,” Jade instantly and darkly says. “Nobody is improvising with my son except Beck and me.”  
For a second, Tori wonders about that rule of Jade’s but then she realizes how many girls are in the class and possibly, she doesn’t even want them to touch her child, but she probably especially doesn’t want them to improvise being Benji’s mother, potentially with keeping Beck the father.  
Sikowitz shrugs. “Then you do a scene with him.”  
Both Beck and Jade stand up but Sikowitz says: “Just Jade.”  
Beck still plants a kiss on Jade’s temple before he sits back down and Jade moves to the front.  
Sikowitz hands Benji to her as they pass each other and Sikowitz sits down in the back, saying: “Okay. Be a Southern grandma, explaining to this class why you hate today’s youth and how you will raise your grandchild, little Benji, differently.”  
“Fine,” Jade says, takes a deep breath and then gets started, in a deep Southern accent, sounding like an old woman as she tells them, how awful they all are.  
But barely anyone really listens to her words because she has just said a few of them when Benji suddenly looks at her confused, almost shocked. That’s definitely not how he expects his mother to talk.  
A few of them have to laugh while Cat says: “N’aw. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”  
He doesn’t. Jade doesn’t get distracted because of it though. But after a while, she does turn to him and tells him in that weird accent that she will do better by him and as soon as she addresses him, he starts cackling as if she has told him the best joke in the world just now.  
Everybody joins in as if they can help themselves with the way, Benji laughs. Even Jade may keep talking but also has to smile and tries to work it into her role when Sikowitz already interrupts, standing back up: “Ah, the beautiful sound of a child’s laughter. Thank you, Jade. Very well.”  
He takes Benji out of her arms again which she allows as she gets back to her chair and sits down. Instantly, Beck puts his arm back around her and she leans into him.  
Meanwhile, Sikowitz decides: “Lets talk about comedy with this asset here.” He tickles Benji which makes him laugh.  
They do talk about comedy that whole lesson through, Benji sitting in Sikowitz’ arms without complaints through it all, sometimes curiously watching their teacher, other times just looking around, one time noticing his parents as if he has forgotten they were there and squealing excitedly which makes Beck wave at him.  
The bell rings and most of the class leave immediately while their group of friends hang back.  
“He has grown so much in the last few months,” Sikowitz notices as he hands him over to Jade again and it’s Andre who answers: “It’s crazy, huh? Every time I see him, I’m surprised how much time has gone by.”  
And it’s weird because Andre, Cat and Robbie possibly have seen Benji and have hold him when he has just been born. They are actually seeing him grow up almost as much as Beck and Jade do. At least if they also see the small boy outisde of school every now and then which Tori suspects they do, even if she hasn’t met him for her first one and a half months of friendship with everyone. She also has barely met them outisde of school yet. She wonders how much Benji is around there, how much she will see of the little boy that suddenly is also part of her life because she’s friends with Beck and possibly also Jade.  
“He really grows up so fast,” Beck agrees, stroking his child’s hair in Jade’s arms.  
Jade rolls her eyes. “You all are way too nostalgic.” She takes one of Beck’s hands in her free one and pulls him with him to leave.  
The others tell Sikowitz good bye before they follow them out the room but soon enough they all go their own ways again.


	2. Tori the Zombie Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Two things I wanted to mention before I start this chapter. Or rather one thing: I'm assuming Tori has her driver's license at this point, at this age. Just so that that's already clear. :) The other thing is something I wanted to ask: I totally want Beck and Jade to go to college or rather apply etc in this story (as it will end on graduation from high school). I'm not American though and don't have any idea about good colleges there. So, if someone could help me out by giving me a good college for acting and writing and stuff? It doesn't necessarily need to be close to LA but I'm guessing in general they will want to keep close to their families. It would only get mentioned in passing somewhere - if I don't know a name by then I will just write something in general about it. But if someone could help me out I would be very grateful. I do assume that Beck and Jade both have good grades and will go to the same college to be in the same city with their son.  
> Now, have fun!

When Tori and Andre arrive for lunch, the others are all already there. Benji sits on Beck’s lap and is fed by him out of a glas Beck and Jade themselves have brought.  
Rex is meanwhile telling a story that Cat listens to with rapt attention while Jade seems a little bored but actually makes a comment as Tori and Andre arrive which makes Robbie, Cat and Beck laugh.  
Andre and Tori sit down with them and they all get into a talk, not at all about Benji though he’s right there and it still fascinates Tori that Jade and Beck have a child. But that’s just it: They have that child for over a year now and he has been to school with them so often that everyone else in their group of friends but also everyone else in the Asphalt Café is just so used to him.  
Jade is soon done eating and after a while pulls Benji over to her lap without exchanging a word with Beck. He also hands her the glas and the spoon and she resumes feeding Benji the rest of the glas while Beck finally gets around to eat.  
Benji doesn’t have to eat much more and already doesn’t seem that much into it with the last few spoonfuls. At the last spoon, he even seems a little annoyed and Jade puts glas and spoon onto the table while she quietly says: “I know you’re full. But you’re done now.”  
Benji scrunches up his nose and for a second, Tori thinks it’s because he wants to scream, but instead he suddenly yawns.  
“Yeah, you can sleep really soon,” Jade promptly promises him and Beck also addresses him with a smile: “It’s time for your nap again, huh?”  
He goes with his hand through his hair and Jade looks to his food as she says: “If you hurry up, we can go lie him down together.”  
Tori draws her eyebrows together. “Where will you lie him down?”  
By now, the other three also listen who have talked among themselves before.  
Beck answers: “Lane’s office. He’s okay with Lane, so he can watch him. He texts us when Benji wakes up again. Or one of us wakes him up during the next break because if he keeps sleeping, he won’t go to bed at night.”  
“As if he does as it is,” Jade dryly but at the same time, she is just now stroking the little boy’s back casually and... lovingly.  
“Why don’t you leave out the nap?” Tori asks with a shrug and instantly, Jade looks at him as if she’s stupid, and even Beck slightly raises his eyebrows.  
Andre chuckles at the reaction and is the one to say: “It’s great to have someone new to this again. But yeah, he gets crazy if he doesn’t get his nap.”  
“I remember when he took every nap in class,” Robbie reminisces with a smile and Beck nods: “Well, that was back when he was mostly asleep anyway.” He turns to Tori again: “But he already needed to truly lie down for a nap since... I don’t know... He has been half a year old or something. A little older. We at least also needed to lie him down with Lane at the end of last year instead being able to keep him with us in the classroom.”  
“Well, who wouldn’t want it calm during their naps?” Tori says, looking at Benji with a tilted head. He already leans heavily against Jade, definitely seems tired and exhausted.  
Cat suddenly asks: “Do you think Lane would be okay if I would lie down with him? A nap sounds great.”  
Andre laughs. “Lane probably wouldn’t care all that much but all the other teachers?”  
“Maybe, they’d like a nap as well,” Cat innocently states and actually, Tori could imagine that as well. Who wouldn’t like a nap in the middle of the day except children who have to take one?  
“Whatever,” Jade cuts through, standing up with Benji in her arms. “Coming?”  
She also takes her bag and Beck nods – actually now also is almost done -, throws the leftovers together with glas and spoon, grabs all of it to throw away, and then takes his own bag and that for Benji before they leave together.  
“Good nap, Benji!” Cat calls after them and waves though Benji doesn’t see.

Tori has a class with Robbie and Jade after lunch and Jade only comes right before the teacher does.  
She lies down her phone on her table and it’s close to the end of the lesson when she gets a text. She only glances shortly at it before she stands up and just leaves. The teacher stops for a moment in his monologue but as soon as he notices it’s Jade standing up without a word, he keeps going as if nothing has happened. Some of their classmates look after her but nobody says anything about it or pulls a face.  
Jade isn’t away for more than ten minutes and has Benji in her arms as she comes back in and sits down again. She also has the big bag with her again that she puts next to her usual one.  
Benji’s face is wet as if he has just cried but Jade is wiping it while she is bobbing the young boy up and down on her lap. He also still looks tired as he sucks on his pacifier and leans into Jade’s arms, cuddling up to her.  
When his face is dry again, she pulls him even closer, keeps bobbing him up and down slightly, drops a kiss on his hair before she takes her pen and starts scribbling down on her notes what their teacher has meanwhile written on the board.  
Tori has to smile as she sees Benji closing his eyes sleepily. He’s such a cute boy.

There seems to be a general rule that Jade and Beck are just allowed to leave the classroom because of Benji without having to say anything.  
It’s on the next day that Tori shares another class with Jade and she has Benji with her. At one point, the boy starts making unhappy noises. Jade rocks him a little but the noises get louder and finally, Jade stands up with Benji, takes up the bag as well and leaves the classroom without anyone mentioning it.  
She comes back a few minutes later, Benji has a small stuffed giraffe in his arms and seems fine again.  
It’s lunch next and Tori directly asks, as soon as the bell rings: “Should I take that bag?” She hasn’t had many lessons with Jade and Beck together since Benji is around – at least hasn’t often been in the class where Benji also has been in. But she has already noticed that most of the time one of them has to drag around that bag and Benji, plus their usual school stuff. And she’s more than ready to at least help out slightly with this whole business.  
Jade shortly glances at her as she stands up with Benji in her arm before she shrugs and just takes her own bag, then she leaves. Tori takes that as a yes, takes Benji’s bag and bites back a “you’re welcome” as Jade already seems kind of more bad-tempered than usual. Tori has come in late, hasn’t seen Jade at all since this lesson, just Beck with Benji passing her by in the hallway during one break where Beck hasn’t even noticed her saying hi.  
They go out to the Asphalt Café and buy their lunch before they go to their table where the rest of their friends are already sitting.  
As they approach, Tori hears Cat, looking at Benji: “N’aw, it’s the giraffe I gave him.”  
Benji still holds the stuffed giraffe from earlier – or partly holds it. Jade has to make sure it doesn’t fall to the ground as every now and then he just lets go.  
“Well, that is his favorite stuffed animal, isn’t it?” Robbie says as Tori leaves Benji’s bag next to Beck and then sits down between him and Andre while Jade has put her food on the table and now hands Benji over to Beck (with the stuffed giraffe) before she sits down as well.  
Nobody answers Robbie as Beck leans into Jade for a kiss but she turns her face away and clearly and harshly says: “No.”  
“You’re not seriously still mad?” Beck asks her and as an answer, Jade just glares at him.  
“What happened?” Tori asks confused. She hasn’t seen or heard them fighting today – though she also hasn’t seen them together up until now for the day.  
Beck shakes his head: “Nothing.”  
Well, he obviously hasn’t been supposed to say that. Jade’s glare gets worse, then she suddenly says: “Yeah, right. Give me my son.”  
She promptly pulls Benji into her arms again as she stands back up which makes his stuffed giraffe fall into Beck’s lap. Benji makes a dissatisfied noise and Jade also takes the giraffe, gives it back to Benji and leaves without another word.  
“He is my son too, you know?” Beck calls after her annoyed before he stands up as well, grabs all three of their bags and both their lunches and then follows her.  
Tori looks to her friends confused. Cat still looks after them with a pout as if someone has called her a bad name. Robbie exchanges an uncomfortable look with Rex. Andre meanwhile notices her raised eyebrows and says with a shrug: “I think he brought her a wrong coffee or something ealier.”  
“Seriously?” Tori asks. That can’t be true. Jade can’t be still mad about that. There was at least one class in between. Jade can definitely hold a grudge but against Beck? And like this? ... With their child around?  
Andre says as if he’s defending them: “I think they’re both a little stressed again. More than usual, I mean. Jade sleeps at Beck’s place for these two weeks again which means they spend all day and night with each other. It’s okay when school is out but with getting up early and everything? Well, I think they need to adjust again.”  
Suddenly, Robbie also speaks up: “Benji also hasn’t slept well the last few nights. I don’t think any of them has gotten much sleep over the last few nights.”  
Tori hasn’t thought about that. She hasn’t thought at all about how Benji obviously isn’t just a cute kid that cries every now and then but that really needs to be taken care off. Which can probably be tough over night if Benji doesn’t sleep well.  
“Anything we can do?” Tori asks because she would like to help out.  
Andre smiles slightly: “Don’t tell them you notice how stressed they are. Somehow, neither likes that. Just... you know... be a friend.”  
“Oh, I read a book about friends...” Cat suddenly starts with one of her usual stories and they begin talking about other things.

But Jade and Beck are on her mind again and as she goes to her next class with Andre, she has to ask: “About Beck and Jade... Have they changed with Benji?”  
Andre looks at her for a moment, thoughtfully, before he nods: “They have, in ways.”  
Well, and Andre has already said that they are more stressed than usual. Which means they are always a little stressed which makes sense, having a child and all. She doesn’t think she notices on Beck – except possibly earlier today. But what if much of Jade’s behaviour is because of having to handle the stress of going to school and trying to achieve good grades and her dreams while being a mother at the same time?  
“So, Jade wasn’t always that way?” she carefully asks as they sit down in class.  
Andre directly knows what Tori means with that, what part of Jade she then assumes to have come out of stress. “Oh, no, she was. They are like they always are.” He hesitates, before he shrugs again: “It’s not an obvious change like that. I can’t desribe it. I don’t know.”  
The teacher comes in anyway at that point and Tori is left wishing she also would’ve known Beck and Jade from before they had Benji because then, she would probably easily understand what Andre means.

Everything is fine again between Beck and Jade the next day and Tori shares almost every class with Benji that day. In two of the classes, both Beck and Jade sit and in one class, they let Benji walk around a little.  
They also get a free period as Sikowitz somehow doesn’t show up in school today while their dance lessons also get cancelled for them to rehearse for Uptown, Downtown instead. With Sophia Michelle now coming to their opening performance, apparently their director is allowed to put in some extra rehearsal which they use as they are supposed to.  
That afternoon, Tori also meets up with Andre to finally get the songs down to perfection. And Cat is supposed to come by later to finally get that scary make up thing over with.  
Tori isn’t excited for the latter but still... They will at least spend time with all three of them, with half of their group of friends which is great. She only knows them for one and a half months now but already feels so comfortable with them and as they really have a good time together in school, she also imagines them having a blast if they would meet outside of school.  
So, she tells Andre as she gives him a drink while they have a short break from the music: “We should meet up with the whole group soon. We’ve never done that since I know you.”  
“That’s true,” Andre answers. “We should definitely do that.”  
He sounds earnest and Tori is satisfied as she takes a sip out of her own glas.  
Then, Andre suddenly says: “Oh, you know how you asked me about if Beck and Jade changed as they had Benji?”  
“Yeah,” she answers because of course she remembers.  
Andre smiles: “This isn’t something so unusual but anyway... I just now thought about what we all could do together and thought about the movies when I remembered that they would have to look if their parents could take Benji again. That’s definitely something they think of in an instant when we think of meeting up. They always directly think about how to organize Benji around it. Which is natural but... it somehow makes them appear so grown up. You know... Sometimes it hits me how responsible they have actually gotten which I don’t think they even imagined before. That’s nothing in their personality per se or something. Or it is but I can’t really describe the change.”  
The weird thing is that Tori doesn’t even see them as responsible parents now. It’s not like she thinks they are irresponsible but it still hasn’t really sunken in that they do have a child and naturally take care of it though she now also knows Benji for a few days and has experienced them very great with him. But to think of Jade and Beck planning something with their friends and directly also thinking of Benji... yes, she can’t imagine it all too well.  
“I wish I would’ve known them before Benji,” Tori confesses. Because she actually would’ve experienced them becoming parents.  
Andre smiles again and both take another sip in silence.  
Then, Andre slowly says: “Well, Jade actually did change for some time in very obvious ways. You know what hormones can do during a pregnancy and after the birth and stuff, right?”  
Tori shrugs. Surely, hormones can do things to a woman but she guesses it’s very different for each one. She doesn’t know what has possibly happened to Jade or hasn’t happened during her pregnancy. (She can't even imagine her pregnant.)  
Andre looks a little uncomfortable though he himself has brought up this specific topic. “She started crying sometimes. I heard some girls claiming she ran out of the class crying at first, and I didn’t really believe it and even laughed at the thought. Well... It actually was’t funny at all to watch.”  
Tori sees how hard Andre swallows before he continues: “She got much... angrier and stuff to cover it up but sometimes, the tears just welled up in her eyes. It was especially bad when she and Beck were broken up – during the pregnancy and after. Though, I’m still not sure if she cried more then or if Beck otherwise was just so brilliant at covering it up. When they were together they spent almost every minute together and he could just disappear with her after all and they could make everyone believe they went away to make out or something. Which they also did. Now, she randomly disappeared on her own and almost always someone saw her leaving and told everyone she looked like she cried again. Robbie and I also did our best to cover it whenenver we noticed. And Cat was also surprinsingly good at it without ever talking about it which seems like a miracle knowing Cat.”  
It does. Cat seems to talk about everything, seems to blab out everything. Tori doesn’t think she would trust her with a real secret. But apperently, she has been a truly good friend for Jade.  
Andre keeps going: “But... Well... It was tough. I once found her crying in the janitor’s closet and she was so... off that she didn’t even send me away but confessed to me that she also doesn’t know what’s happening but that she somehow just can’t keep her tears from running. It was terrible. I’m glad that’s long over.”  
“I can imagine,” Tori truthfully says. She can’t imagine Jade being like that but that’s exactly what makes it so terrible. Nobody has probably expected or wanted to see Jade that way but that has happened.  
And now, she wishes even more she would’ve already been there at that time, would’ve gotten to know everyone earlier. Not to see Jade like that but because she’s sure that has made her friends closer and she’s not part of that. Maybe, that’s also why they all are so close to Jade, why she accepts and even respects them in a way, even though she may pretend otherwise from time to time. But she probably knows what they have done for her, that they have tried to protect her without saying so to her or making a big deal out of it.  
“Anyway... Lets get back to these songs. You have to sing these perfectly tomorrow after all,” Andre suddenly says and that’s true, so they get back to it.

Great. Cat has put that awful zombie make up onto her face and it doesn’t get off. And everyone in school is staring, naturally. Well, this will be a long day.  
Cat waits at her locker for her with a worried look in her eyes in the morning.  
“I’m really sorry,” she instantly says as she sees her.  
“Let’s just not talk about it anymore,” Tori decides because Cat has apologized enough and it doesn’t actually change anything. As long as she will drive up to Grizzly Industries with Trina later like they promised...  
Cat bites her lip as she watches Tori at her locker but Tori already looks out for their other friends. And there they all are again, at Jade’s locker, Benji in Jade’s arms again.  
She sighs, can imagine Jade cruelly commenting on her look already, but she walks up to them anyway, Cat with her.  
Benji is the first to see her and he instantly starts crying. Wow, great. Her face even makes babies cry now.  
The others also turn around to her and Jade smirks as she also sees her: “Well, that’s definitely not a pretty face.”  
Then, she turns to Benji though who presses his face against her shoulder. “But it’s okay, Benji. Everything’s alright. It’s just Tori. Look.”  
She makes Benji turn to Tori again and promptly pokes her face which Tori doesn’t like at all but as Benji actually stops crying at that, she doesn’t slap Jade’s hand away.  
“See,” Jade says. “Not scary at all.”  
Beck smiles and drops a kiss on Benji’s hair while the little boy also stretches his hand out as if he now also wants to touch Tori’s face but Jade takes his hand in hers while Beck dries the little boy’s face with his sleeves.  
“So, what makes you run around like a baby’s nightmare?” Andre asks, a little amused. Okay, so even when he shortly came back during the evening, he apparently didn’t get why she was fighting with Cat and Trina. Otherwise, he would know that Tori isn’t able toget this stupid make up off of her face.  
Cat is the one to answer, quickly and stressing again and again that she didn’t do it on purpose.  
“What about the play?” Robbie asks when Cat finally is silent again.  
Tori answers: “Trina and Cat will get the solution after school and hopefully in time for the play.”  
“Hopefully?” Jade asks with raised eyebrows and Cat cuts in again: “We totally and definitely will. Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry about all of this. Now, I even made little Benji cry. He probably hates me now.”  
She pouts and Jade rolls her eyes. Beck answers though: “He doesn’t. Look at him: He likes it, now that he knows it’s nothing dangerous.”  
Actually, Benji now looks at Tori quite interested and Tori asks herself if that’s Jade’s genes coming through.  
“And him crying at first means you’ll definitely get an A for it,” Jade dryly adds which Cat seems positively excited about: “Think so?”  
“You will,” Robbie agrees and Cat happily claps her hands when the bell rings for their first lesson.

Beck and Jade seem a little annoyed at each other again at lunch but otherwise, everything is fine. School is over at 3pm and while Trina and Cat directly get on their way, everyone else meets in the Blackbox Theater for final rehearsal.  
Benji is also there of course but this time, it’s not as easy to work around him. They do every scene as they are supposed to, in the order, and with everyone coming up from the sides like they will for real, and as quickly followed by each other like they are for real. Somehow, Jade and Beck don’t get around to hand Benji always off to each other or Robbie as they move onto the stage and that’s why Benji is in several scene of their final rehearsal.  
But he’s a good child and doesn’t make trouble. Their director seems annoyed anyway.  
“Someone will come pick him up, yes?” he asks when Benji is on stage with Jade and gets a little whiny which Jade handles by rocking him without otherwise falling out of character.  
“Yes,” she answers pointedly.  
“Good,” their director says. “We can’t have this child around.”  
Jade glares at him, obviously taking offense in place of her son: “Your lead role can look like a zombie though she’s supposed to be beautiful but I can’t carry my own child with me?”  
Okay, of course she has to point out the problem with Tori again. Thanks, Jade.  
“You will get that off in time, won’t you?” the director anxiously asks Tori again and she assures him: “I definitely will.” She knows she has to call Trina or Cat to make sure they are on their way.  
Jade huffs and murmurs “Idiots”, while she walks off stage again with Benji to get ready for her next scene. Their director either hasn’t heard or pretends he hasn’t for the sake of not having to punish Jade and possibly losing her character for the play.  
“Okay. Next scene,” he instead calls out and Tori also leaves the stage quickly.

It’s only about ten minutes later that a woman comes in that seems slightly familiar to Tori though she’s sure she has never seen her before.  
The director is way too nervous by now and doesn’t even let them finish up their scene when he already asks her: “And you are...?”  
“Beck’s mother. I’m here to pick up Benjamin,” the woman says and... yes, obviously, she’s Beck’s mother.  
Beck is on stage but already looks to the side where Jade now comes from, Benji still in her arms. The director decides, possibly relieved: “Okay. Five minute break for everyone.”  
Tori goes to her bag and grabs a bottle of water to drink out of but can’t help watching the little family at the same time. Beck and Jade both walk over to Mrs. Oliver and Beck greets her: “Hey, Mom.”  
“Hello. I’m sorry I’m running a little late,” she answers. “Everything went okay today?”  
“It did,” Beck says as he gets the bag for Benji which they won’t have use for anymore if Mrs. Oliver takes Benji with her. Mrs. Oliver takes it out of his hands while Jade says: “He hasn’t eaten all too well though. So, maybe you can give him something as soon as you’re home.”  
Benji truly hasn’t eaten all that well for lunch. He has started whining only half way through and Beck has then gone to lie him down for his nap.  
Mrs. Oliver rubs the little boy’s belly which makes him laugh. “Sure. We can manage getting some food in you, honey, huh?”  
Jade plants a kiss on Benji’s temple and Beck also leans down an drops a kiss on his hair, then Jade hands him over to Mrs. Oliver, saying: “Yeah, go to Granny.”  
And that’s just so weird because Beck’s mom still looks so young. Yes, she’s surely in her fourties but definitely not close to fifty at the same time. She doesn’t look like someone, Tori would ever call “granny”.  
“Okay. Do we have everything?” Mrs. Oliver says, checking bag and Benji. “Then, I guess we’ll leave you for your rehearsal. I wish you the best of luck for the play.”  
She rubs Beck’s arm who smiles: “Thanks, Mom. See you later.”  
Then, she starts leaving. “See you. Say bye-bye, Benji.” She makes the little boy wave who babbles something as he looks at his parents. And Tori is sure to not only see Beck wave back but also to see Jade blowing him a small kiss, then they’re gone.  
Beck puts his arm around Jade and they share a kiss before they both walk back to the stage, before they both concentrate on the play again.  
Tori can’t help but to be really impressed how they handle all of this, how they handle being in a play and being parents at the same time, going to school and taking care of their son, how they do all of this. But she guesses, she has also missed the more crucial times where they worked hard to get this done, to make this their every day life.  
Tori is excited to get to know more about this over time, to hopefully also get to know Benji better who just now is this little generic child that surely looks a lot like both Beck and Jade but that’s otherwise just some child for her.  
But for now, she has to concentrate on this play as well. And finally call up Cat and Trina to see where exactly they are at the moment.


	3. Robarazzi

Benji of course is back on Monday as Jade’s mother will be away for another week and Beck’s parents still have to work.  
Tori sees Jade, Beck and Benji arriving from her locker. Beck has him in his arm this morning and only shortly goes to his own locker where Tori greets him, then they go together to Jade’s where Cat has already arrived.  
Beck lets Benji down for the last few feet. “Go to Mommy,” he tells him and Benji seems happy to do so, runs as best as he can, falls down once but then finally arrives.  
Jade lies her hands on his head after she has closed her locker, stroking his hair a little, without picking him up though.  
Benji babbles something and seems happy with that.  
“You’re so cute,” Cat tells him like she has surprisingly often over the last week as well and also touches his arm as Andre and Robbie walk up to them as well.  
“Have you read the critique to Uptown, Downtown I shared on TheSlap?” Andre asks and all but Cat have and they shortly talk about it while Benji starts toddling inside the circle they stand in.  
And soon enough he first grabs Tori at her pants and then strechtes his arms up to her without looking at her but still. She has a small cousin she doesn’t see often but she knows that back in that age it has always meant that he wanted to get in someone’s arms. And why shouldn’t Tori pick Benji up? Yes, she hasn’t hold him at all until now, hasn’t even touched him but everyone else in their group of friends does.  
Cat has pulled Benji out of Jade’s and Beck’s arms a few times over the last week, Robbie has hold him partly during their rehearsals for Uptown, Downtown, and Tori has also seen Andre carrying him one break as he has gone to a class with Beck, not to mention that he has also taken him several times in the mornings.  
So, she now picks him up as well. She always thinks it’s somehow a great feeling to carry a child. It’s so funny how easily they fit in your arms, how they are just made to be carried in a way.  
She has to smile as she holds him but her smile instantly drops as she looks back to her friends. Robbie and Andre stare at her with big eyes as if they expect her to explode or something.  
“What?” she asks uncertainly. Has she done something wrong?  
She looks further to Jade and Beck but Beck merely smiles and puts his arm around Jade while Jade cocks an eyebrow.  
Andre now also turns to Jade: “And you claim you don’t like her.”  
Tori doesn’t understand what’s going on but Robbie explains: “He cries whenever someone takes him in their arms who Jade doesn’t like. If you really want to know who Jade hates, put her son in their arms, especially if she’s standing right with them. He has a great sensor for it.”  
“Really?” Tori asks surprised and maybe already a little gleeful. Does Benji actively wanting to be picked up by her and not crying in her arms mean that Jade really doesn’t hate her? Possibly even like her instead? After she’s always so annoyed by her or at least pretends to be?  
But Jade snorts and decides: “He isn’t a newborn anymore. He starts making up his own mind about people and it’s not my fault that he makes wrong decisions.”  
Promptly, she takes Benji out of Tori’s arms again and walks off with him. Beck smiles and follows her but assures Tori while doing so: “Benji still is good at picking up her signals. She doesn’t hate you at all.”  
That’s amazing. Tori shortly looks after them as Beck hurries to catch up with his girlfriend and their son, then she turns back to her other friends. “Is that true?” This whole Benji being a sensor thing?  
“It is,” Cat answers happily and Andre adds amused: “It was so much fun back then around the teachers. She hates almost every one of them and they sometimes offered to take him, especially when they had to write tests, and Benji always screamed like crazy.”  
Now, Tori gets how incredible it is that Beck and Jade can leave Benji with Lane for his nap. And how much Jade also truly must like Sikowitz as he hasn’t had a problem with picking him up at all and Tori doesn’t remember anyone being weirded out by that – unlike with her just now.  
Robbie also is amused as he says: “And Benji was good at keeping girls away from Beck. While he didn’t always scream with every teacher when she wasn’t in the room, like when Beck had him, he almost always went off when a girl approached Beck to flirt with him. They sometimes didn’t even need to touch Benji. At times, Cat was the only girl in school able to talk to Beck when Benji was close, except Jade herself of course.”  
“Jade loved it,” Andre says laughing.  
“I can imagine,” Tori confesses because she so can. And suddenly, she gets why Trina has grumbled at home about “that awful little screaming brat” when Tori has told her parents about cute little Benji. Trina doesn’t like children in general but she has never talked about one like that. But probably, she has also tried to get to Beck over his son last year as it’s an easy target but Benji has always screamed in her presence as well. Which Tori deems as extremely funny.  
But yes, she can imagine many girls approaching Beck with his child in his arms as it also looks good and cute. Jade must have loved that her own son put a stop to that – it also explains that while some girls turn as Beck or Jade walk by with Benji but not one of them ever comes to them or tries talking to Benji though he’s so adorable.  
And at least with Jade around, she can definitely see how it’s working as... “Well... Children do know what their parents are feeling.”

Tori has a relaxed study hall today. She spends it with Andre learning for finals that are fast approaching and that Tori isn’t sure if she’s able to manage yet at this school but Andre’s always a good help – as are all the teachers actually.  
Afterwards, they go to lunch where Beck and Jade already sit with Benji on Beck’s lap and being fed by him, slowly, while Beck also every now and then gets a bite out of his own food.  
“Where have you been?” Andre asks them which Tori deems a reasonable question as they usually spend their time in school together if they can – and they could’ve spent the last hour together, the way study hall works at this school as some students also take it as free period and none of the teachers say much against it except if they’ve put rehearsal or something during that time and a student misses that.  
Jade doesn’t seem to like the question though and says annoyed and sarcastically: “We were having sex behind a dumpster.”  
Tori is surprised enough at the reaction to not laugh about Andre’s dumbfounded face.  
Beck doesn’t seem surprised – well, he has probably been with her over the last hour and knows why she’s this annoyed again. He rubs her back as he answers the question for real: “We did homework in an empty classroom. We just wanted to be alone for some time. That way, Benji was also able to truly move around with noone else there.”  
Jade rolls her eyes about the truthful answer of her boyfriend but doesn’t say anything more about it and Andre apparently decides that it’s also better to not talk for a while with the mood Jade is in again.  
Tori meanwhile sees some of her classmates she has to do a presentation with and she waves them and their friends to their table and shortly talks to them. It’s only when they’re gone again that Cat suddenly shows up, putting some weird thing onto the table.  
For a second they all look up, then they get back to their food without saying a word. Only Benji still seems mildly interested in the device – until Beck holds out a spoonful of food for him again and he’s fully absorbed with eating that.  
“Don’t you guys wants to know what that is?” Cat asks disappointed.  
Jade looks up again and dryly asks: “Is it a transporter from the future that can beam you to another table? Because if it is: What button do I push?”  
“That’s so hurtful,” Cat pouts.  
And Tori really doesn’t know what’s going on with Jade but she has to say anyway: “You know you don’t always have to be so mean, just because you’re in a bad mood.”  
That gets her a deathly glare from Jade but Cat distracts her anyway in that second: “See, Tori is interested in my device.”  
And that’s not true, she just doesn’t like anyone being so harsh and mean as Jade often is. “I’m really not.”  
Andre is the one to take pity on Cat: “Aw, come on, little red. Tell us about you doohickey.”  
Cat promptly and happily tells them it’s called a Snowbee and turns it on and it shoots white stuff in the air and all over them. Tori is too surprised to react at all but sees out of the corner of her eye how Beck tries to shield Benji from the worst while he excitedly stretches his arms in the air. Jade is the one with enough sense to get up and finally turn the machine off.  
“It makes pretend snow,” Cat says.  
“I see that,” Andre says and Beck looks over the mess as he realizes: “It’s all over my tostada.”  
Which must suck as he also has barely eaten any of it. Not like anyone else has eaten much up until now but as he has also fed Benji in between, he has pretty much only taken three bites until now.  
“And my pizza,” Tori complains anyway because she also wasn’t done and is hungry and wonders how she will get that stuff off of her pizza or if she will just eat it with it.  
Cat already warns though: “Well, do not eat it.”  
“Why?” Jade sceptically asks.  
“Cause it says the fake snow is toxic and can cause abdominal bleeding,” Cat explains. Wow, great, Cat. So, that has been lunch.  
Tori wants to push her pizza away and possibly even comment angrily but Jade’s face has hardened and she now spits out: “What a brilliant idea to put that around a child who puts everything in his mouth.”  
Beck already has started hastily getting everything off of Benji now and the little boy wants to put one of his hands in his mouth this very second, possibly to also taste that white stuff but Jade quickly grabs his hands with one of her own while she leans down for Benji’s bag and gets a towel out of it with her other hand.  
Beck has understood what she wants to do before she has the towel in her hand, and has grabbed his water bottle and now easily drenches the towel with water before Jade uses it to first clean Benji’s hands, then also his face, which makes the boy cackle as if his parents hastily cleaning him is a fun game.  
“Oh, no. I’m so sorry!” Cat meanwhile says, obviously hasn’t thought about Benji before. Just like Tori hasn’t instantly thought of him after Cat’s warning.  
Jade glares at her as she lies the towel on the table and also takes the pacifier off of Benji’s shirt and puts it to the towel as if she doesn’t deem it cleanable for now. “If anything happens to him, you truly will be sorry because I’ll make sure you have abdominal bleeding.”  
That’s a threat, Tori has no trouble to believe in. Beck meanwhile picks Benji up and holds him high and Jade starts shaking everything off of Benji’s pants before she also makes sure, there is no more pretend snow on Beck’s legs.  
“But it looked so fun,” Cat defends herself sadly. “I got it out of this catalogue.”  
She shows a catalogue and Beck raises his eyebrows at it, still holding Benji up high. “Sky store?”  
“Yeah,” Cat says softly. “I went to visit my uncle and uncle this weekend in San Francisco and they have there on the plane.” She turns a page and notices some tree face and... gosh... sometimes, Cat really can be so weird.  
Beck slowly sits Benji back onto his lap and Jade starts also wiping off the pretend snow from his shoulders while he shakes out his hair to the other side. It’s almost as if both of them make sure that even when he holds Benji, the boy can’t reach any more pretend snow to put into his mouth. Which Tori is sure they are actually doing which is kind of incredible to see.  
They finally get off the sky store topic when Robbie walks up: “Unbelieveable. You guys have no idea how upset I am... It snowed? In Los Angeles?”  
He shortly bickers with Rex before Tori cuts in: “Dude.”  
“It’s not real snow,” Beck explains, meanwhile snow-free and Jade takes some of the snow off the table with Benji’s spoon and holds it out to Robbie: “But you can eat it.” She glares at Cat while she’s saying it as if she wants to hurt her with it, and Cat makes a sad and guilty face.  
Robbie claims he doesn’t want to eat anything as he’s too upset and he explains to them about his problem with TheSlap and it’s the moment that he asks if they think his blog is boring that Beck suddenly claims to see a guy.  
The others agree and everyone gets up to leave. Jade takes Benji’s bag and her own and towel and pacifier from the table while Beck just takes his own bag and Benji, then they and Andre and Cat are gone – but not without Jade clarifying for Robbie that there of course is no guy.  
Tori still helps out Robbie with some advice before she herself stands up to get some more food she can actually eat because there is no pretend snow on it.

The next day, they finally have Sikowitz again.  
He doesn’t explain why their second class last week has been cancelled, instead he directly addresses Benji again who actually sits on Cat’s lap: “I’m glad to see you back again, Benji. You will be the judge of the scenes everyone has prepared.”  
Tori is surprised about that. Last week, Sikowitz has talked a lot to them about comedy (with Benji in his arms) and has then made them pair up and given each a plot point they were supposed to prepare for the next class – which then has been cancelled but naturally they will have to do the scenes today then. He has never said, Benji would judge over them. Not that Tori believes that’s possible anyway as the boy can’t even talk yet.  
But Sikowitz tells the class: “Whoever makes him laugh, knows they’ve done good.”  
With that he picks the boy up out of Cat’s lap. Jade raises her eyebrows at him: “You do know he doesn’t understand puns or anything yet, right?” Those things that of course are also part of comedy.  
“Are you afraid you won’t be able to do it?” Sikowitz asks and... well, he does know how to challenge all of them but especially Jade.  
“I know how to make my own son laugh,” she instantly says and he makes a gesture as he goes to the back where he sits down with Benji: “Then, get started.”  
Beck and Jade of course have paired up and now go to the front. They are supposed to be two people who think they are incredible dancers though they are really not.  
Beck puts a song on with his phone and they do a ridiculous dance routine that everyone has to laugh about, especially as they both do make faces as if they’re extremely serious about this and think they dance brilliantly, without saying a word or anything. Benji is the one that squeals out of glee as he watches his parents like that.  
Well, they do know how to make him laugh. And Jade obviously defended the rest of the class with saying Benji doesn’t understand puns as she must’ve known Benji could understand this and would crack up because of it.  
“Well done!” Sikowitz calls out as the song ends and they do the last step totally after the beat. “Cat and Robbie next.”  
Jade and Beck sit down again, both obviously satisfied, sharing a kiss before Beck puts an arm around Jade and she leans into him.  
Cat and Robbie step onto the stage and Cat directly turns into Benji’s direction. “Benji! Look!” She makes a weird face and Benji starts cackling.  
“What are you doing?” Jade asks her and definitely everyone wonders about that.  
“I thought we’re supposed to make him laugh,” Cat innocently states.  
Sikowitz explains: “You’re supposed to do the scene you prepared in a way that makes him laugh.”  
“Oh,” Cat makes. “We can do that! Let’s go, Robbie.”  
They do a fight scene that’s supposed to be over a ridiculous topic and overacted. They do a brilliant job at it and at one point Robbie pretends to push Cat and Cat falls back slightly and then acts like she has trouble balancing herself on one foot which makes Benji cackle again, so Sikowitz is satisfied as they end the scene.  
Tori and Andre are next and Tori doesn’t know if she has been this nervous even before the Bird Scene. She doesn’t know if they will succeed in making Benji laugh with their scene being pretty heavy on conversation – unlike that of Beck and Jade for example. And she guesses it’s true that Benji won’t get most of the verbal jokes.  
But Andre pretty soon pulls a face as a reaction to something Tori has said, and Benji seems to love it and laughs again.  
And it’s good that they are third because Benji looses interest after that. He doesn’t even look at them anymore as they end their scene and Sikowitz tells them they’ve done good.  
It probably adds to him not being interested that nobody he has to know well is doing their scene after. But Tori is sure he also just isn’t able to concentrate for so long. At least, he looks everywhere else and starts babbling which distracts their classmates, who are next, more than anything.  
Sikowitz claims anyway that the next two pairs obviously haven’t done well because Benji hasn’t laughed though the rest of the class has partly.  
It’s with the sixth pair that they end and Benji starts laughing again. Tori turns around but only to see Sikowitz tickle the young boy. “Well done,” he says as he does. “He’s laughing.”  
“That’s cheating,” Jade claims with raised eyebrows.  
But Sikowitz has apparently wanted to give this pair a compliment, has he laughed himself silly at their scene. Now, he says, almost with a pout: “Well, he isn’t the judge I deemed him to be.”  
“He’s one year old,” Jade says matter-of-factly.  
And that’s the moment, Benji also sighs. As if he understands a word though he just seems kind of tired from having to laugh again after being tickled.  
Sikowitz goes with his hand through his hair anyway, before he picks him up from his lap and puts him down. “How about you go to your parents?”  
He turns him to Beck and Jade and Benji seems to understand that suggestion and walks over to them, stretching his arms out to Jade who sits closer, saying: “Mama.”  
Jade picks him up as soon as he’s with her and cradles him in her arms as she leans back into Beck. Beck also shortly rubs the little boys arm as he drops a kiss on his head.  
Tori still watches them with a smile as Sikowitz says: “Well, our special judge is out but we still have to get going. Next, Juliett and Rosa.”  
Benji doesn’t watch another performance and also barely distracts them anymore as he lies in his mother’s arms.  
After everyone is done, Sikowitz gets up agian and starts explaining about comedy again and how much they have to watch their audience, how sometimes physical comedy can be more appropriate, like for young children, but that they can adapt their scenes to that.  
Tori is surprised that letting Benji judge actually has had a purpose – and she’s sure she’s not the only one. But Sikowitz of course is a good teacher and does know what he’s doing, even if she sometimes forgets that.

So, she gave Robbie some well-meaning advice and it has backfired on her. How has that happened? She has popped a pimple yesterday, right before Sikowitz’ class and now it’s all over TheSlap because Robbie has filmed it.  
She confronts Robbie about it but he doesn’t want to stop and she wants to rant to her friends about it and already sees Jade and Beck at their locker, little Benji on Jade’s arms. But apparently, she isn’t the only one angry at the moment. Maybe, it has to do something with it being Wednesday. It has also been the last Wednesday where Jade and Beck have fought because of some coffee. Maybe, they have the most stressful day on Wednesdays somehow which they take out on each other.  
Right now, Beck asks, in an almost exhausted tone as if they have fought earlier: “You’ll have him for the next lesson, right?”  
“You have him,” Jade answers with a glare.  
“You know Wesley doesn’t like him around,” Beck answers. Wesley is the very strict math teacher of Hollywood Arts. Tori can imagine that he doesn’t like having a toddler in his classroom though Benji is so easy.  
Jade looks at him as if she can’t believe him: “As if I care. I have to do a presentation and I don’t want to take care of your son next to it.”  
Okay, so now it’s Beck’s son as opposed to Jade’s like she otherwise always emphasizes.  
Beck rubs his eyes and it seems clear to Tori that he has forgotten about Jade’s presentation. He probably has known before. Finally, he takes Benji out of Jade’s arms. “I’ll have him. Good luck with your presentation.”  
Jade rolls her eyes and then gives Benji a kiss on the cheek before she leaves them standing there.  
Beck sighs and Benji makes a few noises and Beck whispers something before he also starts walking again. Tori doesn’t run after him to discuss this pimple thing with him. He definitely has enough going on.  
They do talk about it though in their group of friends at lunch while Robbie is who-knows-where. There is a rumour going on that he wants to put even more videos online and is working on that at the moment. Tori already starts thinking what else she has done over the last few days in the school’s hallways that Robbie could’ve potentially have filmed.  
Jade makes some mean remarks of course but she still meets up with all of them in the Black Box Theater later where they watch the video that Robbie has put onto TheSlap at that point.  
Benji toddles around Jade and Beck as they watch Robbie giving some sort of teaser for his next... show or something. He talks about Tori’s pimple (as if she needs more attention on that – though she’s also glad that Robbie obviously hasn’t caught something else somehow), about some possible addiction of Andre with ketchup (Tori doesn’t get where he got that), Sinjin stealing teeth (they all can imagine that) and Beck and Jade possibly breaking up. Well... She does know that some of their classmates have watched them fight earlier today. They must have had a big one again before Tori showed up and there are some people saying they would break up because of it. Which seems ridiculous with everything Tori has heard about their history and everything she has already seen with those two.  
But possibly Robbie has heard it, knows that many peoople will watch if he promises to know about that, and uses it because of it.  
Anyway... Tori has enough problems with Robbie’s sudden addiction to her pimple. “He’s a dead man.”  
“Beck and I aren’t splitting up,” Jade says and Beck shrugs: “Well.”  
“Dude,” Jade makes and Beck smiles: “Kidding.”  
Well, Tori wouldn’t have made a joke like that with Jade, especially as they have already fought again. Though they have seemed totally fine again with each other at lunch.  
But Jade doesn’t say anything more about it and they decide to go to Robbie this very second to talk to him about it. How can he do this? They are his friends and he talks about their lives on TheSlap. That’s just stupid.  
But Cat doesn’t stand up to follow them. “Cat? Are you coming with?” Tori asks her as all of them turn around to see what’s up with her.  
She’s absorbed in her catalogue again. Gosh, what’s up with her?  
Tori wants to just leave but Jade promptly walks back up to her and sits Benji on Cat’s lap whom she has picked up as they had wanted to leave. “Don’t let go of him. We’ll be back in a sec.”  
Cat has instantly put one arm around the little boy and now shows him something in the catalogue: “Look, Benji. We need this, don’t we?”  
“Why don’t we take him with us?” Beck asks Jade and Tori also believes he’s much better with Jade and Beck than with Cat, especially the way she is at the moment. She may have noticed that Benji is suddenly on her lap but Tori isn’t sure she has actually heard Jade say anything.  
Jade shrugs and walks by them. “There is a good possibilty I’ll kill Robbie and I don’t need him to witness that.”  
“That makes sense,” Beck says and follows her without hesitating any longer.  
Actually, Jade has had good sense with that. It’s not like she’s physically attacking Robbie, but soon enough all of them scream at Robbie and Benji probably really shouldn’t be involved in that.

Of course, Robbie has also video proof of them screaming at him and posts that on TheSlap which everyone in school laughs themselves silly about the next day. Great. Not to mention that he has talked even more about Tori’s pimple, Jade and Beck breaking up, Andre’s addiction to ketchup and Cat’s addiction to sky store. Well, the last one is true and to worry about but it’s nobody’s business.  
Cat has had enough sense despite sky store though to take care of Benji while they confronted Robbie. Tori hasn’t gone back to the Blackbox Theater with Beck and Jade after but Benji is well and alive the next day, so...  
At lunch, Robbie actually tries sitting with them and Tori doesn’t feel bad at all for him as Andre first throws his bag away and then Jade his lunch, after giving Benji, whom she has started to feed today, to Beck.  
She should have just left. It’s only dance class after lunch today and some clubs but Tori isn’t in any of those clubs, doesn’t have an extra rehearsal for something today and her dance class is cancelled again as her teacher is sick. But she has thought it would be nice to have lunch with her friends. But with eveyone staring...  
Andre has to leave first for a meeting with one of the teachers and Cat, Tori, Beck and Jade only slowly go back into school where Cat instantly sees June, a classmate of theirs, and leaves to talk to her.  
Tori walks with Beck and Jade (and their son in Jade’s arms) to the main hallway and wants to tell them goodbye there but that’s also where they are approached by Lane.  
“Good that I meet you here. I’m sorry but I have to leave for a family emergency. You can still lie Benji down in my office. And I bet your teacher will be fine if one of you misses your next class to watch him. Or to drive home with him if you have’t got another lesson after or something. See you tomorrow.”  
And without anyone being able to answer, he’s gone again.  
“He can’t be serious,” Jade says, looking after him annoyed.  
Benji makes a dissatisfied noise in her arms. He seems incredibly tired.  
“Well, just skip,” Tori says before Jade can get any more angry, as if Benji needs his mother to get angry when he’s tired like this. “I mean... You’re allowed to.” There is no reason to be angry. She would be glad if she would be allowed to miss a lesson just like that.  
Jade just glares at her and it’s Beck who explains, sounding exhausted again: “We’re supposed to do our final performance for this semester in dance class. Of course, we can push that back if they allow us to but we practiced so much to do it today.”  
He rubs his eyes again and looks incredibly old as he does. Well, if they have practiced a lot for today, that must mean they’ve practiced a lot over the last few days – while they also had to take care of Benji during school and after, not just after, which must mean more stress.  
Jade also presses her lips together bad-tempered and Benji makes a whiny noise again.  
“How about I watch him?” Tori carefully asks. She has time. She has wanted to go home but she can just as well stay for Benji’s nap.  
As Beck and Jade just look at her for a second, she continues: “My class is cancelled and I can watch him. He’s okay with me as well.” Just like he is with Lane.  
Beck lies his hand on the small of Jade’s back. “Would you do that?”  
“He will sleep anyway, won’t he?” Tori says. “I can do homework in Lane’s office. It’s fine.”  
Jade and Beck share a look and it’s as if they are silently debating before Jade shrugs: “I guess we don’t have much choice.”  
Tori knows she’s stressed and annoyed by the situation. She still can’t bite back a sarcastic “You’re welcome”.  
That gets her another glare by Jade but they don’t exchange one more word as they walk to Lane’s office. Benji seems almost asleep already when they go into it.  
There is something set up on the floor that resembles a bed. It’s made out of some blankets and pillows, Lane has in his office anyway to make couch and chairs more comfortable. Tori guesses, Benji is too young to sleep on the couch with the danger of rolling off of it. He probably still sleeps in a crib at home.  
Jade lies Benji down on the improvised bed while Beck gets the blanket out of their bag to cover Benji with that.  
Tori meanwhile sets up at Lane’s desk because... why not if she has a chance to? She guesses getting Benji to sleep is something private – it definitely already looks private with the way they sit down on the floor with him. That’s why she tries not to listen in too much but it’s only them in the room and it’s so easy to hear every word.  
“Sleep well, baby, huh?” Jade softly whsipers as she kisses the young boy’s cheek.  
“But not too well – we want you to finally sleep through the night as well,” Beck quietly says and obviously with a smile.  
Jade punches his arm. “Idiot.” But without a doubt, she’s smirking as well.  
Beck also plants a kiss on Benji’s cheek and whispers: “We love you, little baby.” He turns to Jade again: “And he’s already out. I guess that means no song or anything this time.”  
“I would’ve been surprised if he could’ve stayed awake much longer,” she answers as both of them stand back up, the bell ringing at the same moment for the start of the next lesson.  
Neither Beck nor Jade hurries to get to class though but they also will have a good excuse, so...  
Jade instead slowly turns to Tori again and just like that her soft voice is gone: “We’ll be back after our lesson. If he wakes up, try to keep him busy. If he cries and you picking him up doesn’t calm him down, come to us. We don’t have our phones on us for dance class, so you will have to come to us. Otherwise, you will stay in this room with him. Ever have changed a diaper?”  
“No,” Tori answers helplessly and Jade decides: “Then don’t have your first try on him. Just... If he seems uncomfortable at all, you’ll get him to us.”  
“Will do,” she quickly says. She’s definitely ready to follow that order, especially for Benji’s sake.  
Beck smiles as he puts his arm around Jade, also addressing Tori though: “Everything will be fine. He barely slept last night, so he will be out like a stone now, probably. And maybe, our teacher lets us do our performance first and we can come back in a few minutes already.”  
“Okay,” Tori says, also with a smile. “Good luck.”  
“Thanks,” Beck says and he and Jade leave.  
Tori sits down at Lane’s desk from where she looks over to Benji who truly is fast asleep. Gosh, he’s still the cutest.  
But she should concentrate on her homework now. And she does.  
Apparently, their dance teacher doesn’t let them go first or doesn’t let them leave directly after. At least, they don’t come for a long time. Almost at the end of the period, when Tori is done with her homework and starts browsing the internet over her phone, Benji makes a few noises. Tori slowly gets up and walks over to him, sits down next to him on the floor. It doesn’t take much more time for Benji to slightly and sleepily open his eyes.  
Tori smiles at him as he sits up, rubs his eyes with his little hands and looks around as if in search for his parents or something.  
“Hey, Benji,” Tori softly says. “It’s me, Tori. Your parents’ friend, yeah? They’ll be back really soon.”  
She offers to take him into her arms by opening them and he directly stretches his own arms into her direction and with a smile, she takes him, with the blanket, Beck and Jade have brought with them.  
She pulls him up her lap where she cradles him and satisfied, he closes his eyes again.  
For a second, she considers taking a photo of him but she’s not sure Beck and Jade allow that and she doesn’t think she should take photos of children if their parents don’t want her to. But she gets back on her phone and scrolls to TheSlap as there’s not much more she can do anyway.  
Only about two minutes later, the door finally opens again and Beck and Jade come in.  
Benji opens his eyes back up at the noise and brightly smiles as he sees his parents that both look freshly showered: “Mama. Dada.”  
“Yeah, baby,” Beck says and picks him up from Tori’s lap before Tori herself stands up. “Had a good time with Tori?”  
Benji babbles a little, still sounding a little sleepy, and Beck listens to him with a smile as if he understands what he’s talking about, while Jade takes the blanket away and stuffs it back into the bag with Benji’s things.  
Only then, Beck turns to Tori. “Sorry. She of course didn’t let us go first.”  
“Don’t worry,” Tori instantly says because she has used the time for her homework, so... “How did your performance go?”  
“We got an A,” Jade answers with a smirk as she takes on of Benji’s hands in hers and kisses it, looking proudly at her son. Apparently, both she and Beck are elated enough because of that that all their previous exhaustion is forgotten.  
“Awesome. Congrats,” Tori says.  
Beck takes the congrats with a nod, then: “Thank you for taking care of him. Did he make any trouble?”  
“Not at all,” Tori answers truthfully. “He woke up a few minutes ago but wasn’t anxious or anything.” Which is a little surprising as Benji also doesn’t know her too well and it must be weird for a one-year-old to wake up to someone he barely knows, doesn’t it?  
Beck rubs the small boy’s belly, tilting his head. “Well, he’s used to sleeping with many different people to wake up to. Each of us, each of our parents, Lane... He’s luckily very good about that.”  
Jade silently takes Benji out of Beck’s arms at that and... Tori believes she sees slight guilt in both their faces. Guilt about the situation, about having to hand Benji off so often. But they can’t do it any differently, Tori knows. And obviously they have been around him all the time until he was nine months old or something, and are around him during weekends and breaks and always as much as they can. At least one of them at all times. They try their best and they shouldn’t feel guilty at all because Benji obviously loves them and feels safe around them.  
Slowly she suggests: “I bet he’s good about that because he knows he can trust you coming back.” Maybe, he’s so relaxed about all of this because Jade and Beck are actually doing pretty good with him.  
Jade cocks an eyebrows though: “Suddenly got a decree in child psychology? God. Annoying.” She picks up the bag with Benji’s things and hands it to Beck and then she takes one of his hands in hers: “Let’s get home, Beck.”  
Beck smiles and turns to Tori again: “We can drop you off at home.”  
“Sure. Thanks,” Tori answers and she takes Jade not protesting as actually her thanking her for taking care of Benji as well.  
Benji gets strapped in his seat in the back again and Tori sits next to him as Beck drives her home.  
“Bye, Benji,” Tori says with a smile as Beck pulls into her parents’ driveway. “See you tomorrow. You two as well.”  
“Bye,” Beck also says with a smile while Jade merely watches her leave.

At that evening, Tori gets photographed by some of those stupid ninth-graders that work for Robbie with creme under her armpits. Embarrassing. She’s boiling inside and of course thinks of some plan to finally put an end to this. They have endured him for too long. She doesn’t want to be embarrassed any further.  
The next day, she tells Beck, Jade, Cat and Andre all about her plan right in the morning in front of Jade’s locker. Robbie doesn’t come there today to greet at least Benji, probably has successfully been scared away at yesterday’s lunch where they have made clear they wouldn’t want him around as long as he does his dumb Robarazzi show.  
She would’ve thought Jade would immediately be on board, possibly only a little bit grumpy about the fact that she didn’t get the idea. But as she asks everyone if they are in and Andre and Beck agree – while Cat talks to Benji; well, at least she’s not absorbed into a catalogue again –, Jade shrugs: “I don’t care.”  
“Come on,” Beck says, rubbing her back. “He should stop either way.”  
Jade shrugs again. “I’m over it.”  
Tori is confused. Just yesterday at lunch she has definitely been angry at him as well. “Do you want him to further spread rumours about you two breaking up?” she asks confused. Jade can’t want that.  
“He won’t do that anymore,” Jade calmly states and... how does she knows that?  
Tori pulls his eyebrows together and Andre also looks confused at her. Beck slowly says: “We kind of visited him yesterday.”  
“Mafiosi-style?” Andre asks and it’s the moment he says that that Tori can imagine that quite well. Not just with Jade but also with Beck. Them waiting in Robbie’s home for him, in the dark, then calmly telling him to stop spreading rumours about them or bad things will happen...  
“No,” Beck answers amused though. “But we were out with Benji and one of the ninth-graders wanted to film us. We were kind of pissed that he now wanted to pull Benji into this as well and we drove to his place and told him that he can’t seriously think about that. And we told him that we’re actually stressed enough as it is without his dumb show and that we can’t deal with stuff like that at the moment. He has a heart for Benji, so...”  
Beck looks over to his son in Cat’s arms and Jade does as well with a smirk: “Sucker.” With which she undoubtedly means Robbie. As if he has fallen for something that’s not true though all their friends know that they actually have enough to deal with without those rumours. Though it’s Friday and as Tori understands it, Jade’s Mom will come back over the weekend and everything will return to normal after that. She hasn’t noticed before that Beck and Jade have a child, so they can’t be too stressed when they don’t have to take Benji to school with them. Though Tori also guesses that she will be more attentive to it now and will wonder in the future how she hasn’t noticed in her first one and half months at this school that they have a child at home together.  
Beck looks further to Jade with a smile. “But he deserves a little payback anyway, huh? You’re always for revenge, aren’t you?”  
He has a point there and Jade returns his look, possibly surpresses a smile of her own as she says: “I guess so. Let’s do it.”  
So, they do. Beck and Andre steal his clothes while Jade and Tori take the pictures and Cat stands behind them and holds Benji who actually cackles as he sees Robbie reacting to the little prank which makes everything even better.  
It’s before that though that they have a frank talk with Cat. She, Andre and Beck who’s holding Benji while Jade has to talk to a teacher about something to do with finals apparently.  
This whole sky store business is truly dangerous. Cat has bought so much stuff over the last week alone. So much needless stuff which has costs her a few hundred dollar already probably.  
Cat understands what they are saying and Beck gives her Benji to calm her down as he rips the catalogue apart.  
“See? Wasn’t so bad, was it?” Tori asks her though she presses Benji extremely close to herself and has closed her eyes as Beck has ripped the catalgue apart.  
Cat doesn’t say a word and Andre decides that Beck and he should get to their gym class anyway.  
Beck takes Benji again to give him to Jade whom he wants to briefly meet up with again apparently before class. Then the boys are gone.  
Cat doesn’t want to leave yet and Tori decides to leave her sitting there for another few minutes as class doesn’t start yet anyway.  
She gets herself something to drink, only very slowly, and gets back as slowly. Almost everyone else has left the hallways by now – and Cat actually stands by the stairs with another copy of the sky store catalogue. She can’t be serious.  
“Cat!” That’s Jade, approaching her from the other side of the hallway, Benji in her arms.  
Cat makes a shrieking noise and tries to hide the catalogue but Jade already rips it out of her hands.  
“Beck has told me you have just promised to give up on this,” Jade says with a scolding voice. Very much sounding like a mother actually.  
Tori is surprised that Beck has told her at all. They have spontanously decided to do it when Jade was already gone for her talk. Beck must have deemed it important enough to tell Jade about it.  
“I’m sorry,” Cat says. “But everything there looks so good.”  
“But you don’t need any of it,” Jade answers.  
Cat doesn’t seem convinced – and also doesn’t seem afraid though Jade glares at her.  
Tori is about to walk up to them, to cut in, to also get her opinion in, to tell Cat that she’s disappointed in hope that will change something but then Jade suddenly sighs and then says: “You know how I don’t allow you to dress up as Santa Claus for Benji as I know you will just be weird and possibly traumatizing for him?”  
Cat nods as if Jade has told her that a thousand times.  
Jade looks annoyed at her own words as she continues: “If you don’t order one more thing for the rest of the year at sky store, you can dress up as Santa Claus for him for this year’s Christmas.”  
“Really?” Cat asks excitedly.  
Jade makes an annoyed sound, then: “Yeah. And every year after that if you behave during that year.”  
And with that, she hands her the catalogue back that Cat instantly throws away from herself before she takes Benji out of Jade’s arm.  
“Have you heard that, Benji? I’ll be your Santa Claus!”  
“I’m already seeing how well it’s going,” Jade comments dryly.  
Tori has to smile though. She doesn’t know if you should use your child like that but it’s actually nice to see Jade being such a good friend. And she bets, Benji will have a blast with Cat as Santa Claus – no matter how weird everyone else will find her in that role.


	4. Survival of the hottest

It’s the beginning of June, too close to finals, and LA has been hit by a major heat wave. Tori doesn’t like it at all, nor does anybody else.  
It starts at the weekend and then gets worse and worse during the week. On Wednesday, it’s so bad for lunch that Tori isn’t sure she’ll survive.  
“Oh, my god. I’m so hot,” she moans as she sits at the table with Beck and Robbie and doesn’t even feel like eating because it’s just that warm.  
“Ain’t that the truth?” Rex says. Ugh. Why does he always have to be like that?  
Beck meanwhile asks: “What’s the temperature now?”  
Robbie pulls out his PearPad and looks it up. 103 degrees. God.  
“Man, I hate sweating,” Beck says and Tori instantly answers: “I know. My arms feel like warm, wet ham.”  
That makes Beck laugh and at the same time, Jade and Cat are approaching their table.  
“Hiii,” Cat says as she sits down next to Robbie. “It’s really hot but I’m still in a good mood.”  
Jade sits down between Beck and Tori. “Robbie. You done with that water?”  
Robbie isn’t but gives it to Jade anyway as she tells him to. Tori is a little distracted by now. The thing is... She looks at Jade and there’s not one sweat drop anywhere to be seen. While some of their classmate are practically drenched in sweat and Tori also feels like that, Jade doesn’t seem sweaty at all.  
Jade of course notices her staring and snaps: “What?”  
“You’re not sweating,” Tori says disbelieving and Jade just makes an: “Uhu.”  
Tori has to touch her skin, has to check if it’s maybe just not seeable on Jade, but the skin also feels completely dry.  
“Havin’ fun there?” Jade asks annoyed.  
“How can you not be sweating?” Tori wants to know and the answer Jade gives is quite simple: “I don’t sweat.”  
“Everyone sweats,” Tori says because everyone does but Beck almost smiles: “Not Jade.”  
“Jade never sweats,” Robbie agrees.  
“What do you mean: She never sweats?” Tori asks. That can’t be true, can it be?  
“Sweating is gross, so I don’t do it,” Jade simply states and that’s not how sweating works. Especially... People don’t just sweat during heat like now but also due to other things.  
“You don’t even sweat during excersising or stuff?” Tori asks confused and tries to remember ever seeing Jade excercise. But she hasn’t. They don’t have any kind of gym class together. Though Jade also has showered after her and Beck’s dance class. She would’t have needed to if she haven’t sweated at all, would she?  
Jade shakes her head though. “No.”  
And sue Tori but... her mind directly wanders to something else, women definitely have to sweat through. She has accidently cought some documentary on TV a few weeks ago that she isn’t able to unsee – and which she also wasn’t able to turn off at that time. It was about women giving birth and... well... they definitely sweat.  
And though nobody says that Jade had Benji naturally, she has to ask: “What about... during giving birth?”  
Jade’s face instantly hardens as she glares at Tori. “Never talk about Benji’s birth.”  
Okay. Well... As much as she has seen on that documentary, giving birth is something exetremly private. She hasn’t understood how those women could’ve allowed a camera there. She kind of gets it if Jade doesn’t want to talk about it at all.  
Beck apparently can’t surpress a smile though as he leans over and plants a kiss on Jade’s temple.  
That’s also the moment, Andre gets to their table, fanning himself with some money. “What’s up amigos, amigirls?”  
Cat asks about the money and Andre explains about the kiddie pool he set up which is extremely smart. Tori asks herself how Andre was still able to think of something like that with this heat going on.  
Everyone else also is quickly distracted by the heat again and they start talking about how long the heat wave will last (Tori has heard today on the news that it will last until Tuesday) and it’s Beck who gets the brilliant idea of going to venice beach on Saturday. Everyone is on board. Sadly, Trina overhears them talking about it and promptly decides to come with them though nobody wants her to. Well, great. But Tori bets, going to the beach will be fun anyway. And they finally do get to spend time together outside of school, all together.

Next day, before Sikowitz’ class, they are all talking about all the things they want to take with them and what they should buy together on their way to the beach.  
It’s almost casually that Beck says: “Oh, yeah. It’s okay if we take Benji with us, right?”  
Tori is surprised at herself how quickly she has forgotten about their son again. But naturally, Beck and Jade want to take him with them.  
The reaction is also just agreement from everybody. “Of course.” “Sure.” “Yeah.” Cat even claps her hands excitedly as if one of her dreams is coming true by going to the beach with Benji.  
Beck smiles because of their reactions and rubs over Jade’s legs that are drapped over his lap while Jade dryly says: “Good for you. Whoever would’ve sayed no, wouldn’t have come with us.”

Tori of course tells Trina that evening about Benji coming with them in hope Trina would decide she wouldn’t come under these circumstances. She doesn’t like Benji after all and hopefully doesn’t want to be around him, especially with the risk of him crying like crazy because of Jade’s dislike of Trina. But sadly, Trina deems the beach as more important in this weather.

 

They get to Beck’s relatively early on Saturday. Cat is already there, standing in front of an RV in Beck’s parents’ driveway. Jade and Beck are also standing there, Jade has Benji in her arms who’s leaned against her. In front of them are standing Mrs. Oliver and a man that has to be Mr. Oliver.  
They seem to be in a talk with Cat watching with a pout. Trina and Tori walk up to the group and Tori knows there’s something wrong while Trina seems totally oblivious and says happily: “Good morning. I’m ready for some beach fun.”  
Jade instantly looks at her with her deathliest glare. “Stay away. He’s uncomfortable enough.” With which she must mean Benji who doesn’t seem well at all in her arms.  
Trina does stop and looks offended but nobody seems to care. Tori carefully walks up closer to them and doesn’t get send away by Jade who looks back to Benji in her arms already anyway.  
“What’s going on?” Tori asks and it’s Beck who flatly says: “Benji is sick.”  
Whoever gets sick with temperatures like this. But now that she can take a good look at the little boy he does look a little sick, has swollen and red eyes and looks exhausted. Actually, Beck and Jade look exhausted as well.  
“Poor guy,” Tori says earnestly and Mrs. Oliver nods slightly before she turns back to Jade and Beck: “But you were at the doctor with him yesterday and he has taken medication over night and his fever is already down and he’s so much better.”  
“He’s still sick. What if it suddenly gets worse again? It also started just like that yesterday,” Jade answers.  
Mrs. Oliver looks to the boy whose hair gets stroken thoughtfully by Beck at that momet. “But he seems fine. Come on... You haven’t been away with your friends for ages. Both of you, together. We take care of him and you go have fun.”  
Okay, so that’s what this is about. They don’t just worry because Benji is sick but they are thinking about what to do with their trip. Tori would hate for it to be cancelled but if Beck and Jade have to stay home with their son, she will understand.  
Jade and Beck share a look and possibly they are having a silent conversation.  
Now, Mr. Oliver first talks since Tori has arrived: “We will of course call if it gets worse again. But he looks like he will sleep through the whole day anyway.”  
Jade and Beck shortly both glance to Mr. Oliver, to Mrs. Oliver, to Benji, then they look back in each other’s eyes.  
Beck shrugs uncertainly. “We can drive back as soon as they call.”  
“Yeah, great,” Jade answers sarcastically. “Because we can be back in a sec, especially with traffic.”  
“Why don’t we take him with us anyway?” Cat suggests which Tori also possibly would have in a second. If he’s already better... And she can’t imagine anyway for Jade or Beck to run around much at the beach or something. They could hold him close as they would go into the water and he could still cure during it, couldn’t he?  
Jade slightly rolls her eyes but doesn’t even look at her, but still in Beck’s eyes as she answers: “He can’t be out like this with all of you. He has to get some sleep.”  
“I really think you should enjoy your day,” Mrs. Oliver says again.  
Beck shrugs again as he says to Jade: “We haven’t been out in a long time.”  
Tori is almost sure to see Jade biting her inner cheek before she shrugs as well and hands Benji over to Mrs. Oliver. “But call if anything happens,” she makes sure to say.  
Mrs. Oliver smiles. “Of course.”  
Then Jade turns to Beck again. “You sure?” Because this isn’t her decision alone but she has just given her sick son out of her arms.  
Beck just pulls her into a short kiss as an answer and that’s apparently that.  
Then, Beck suggests to his parents: “Why don’t you already bring him inside and we’ll come say goodbye to him before we go?”  
“Sounds good,” Mr. Oliver agrees and Mrs. Oliver smiles to Cat, Trina and Tori: “We’ll wish you much fun on the beach.”  
“Thank you,” Cat answers. “See you when we’re back, Benji.”  
Beck’s parents leave with Benji almost asleep in Mrs. Oliver’s arms and go inside the house.  
Jade looks after him for a while and Beck rubs her arm before he turns to Cat, Trina and Tori: “You guys can already get inside.”  
Cat directly gets into the RV which door stands open anyway. Trina and Tori also get in, followed by Beck and then Jade.  
The RV looks very much lived in. There’s one bed in it that looks rushly made, a couch, a TV, a desk, a book shelf, a guitar and a closet. And somehow, there’s also a crib cramped into there, as are toys on the coffee table.  
“Do you live in here or something?” Tori asks as she looks around.  
Jade looks at her judgingly as if she’s dumb for not knowing but Beck nods with a smile: “I do. I moved out of my parents’ house with 14. My roof, my rules.”  
“Makes sense,” Tori says amused and then makes a gesture to the crib: “And Benji sleeps here too?”  
“Yeah, when he doesn’t stay at Jade’s. We both have our own rooms as well in the house but... well... And Jade of course sleeps here as well when she’s staying over.”  
He puts his arm around her and with a smirk she kisses him.  
At the same time, Robbie with Rex on his hand, and Andre come into the RV.  
They all share greetings and Beck says: “Well, we can get going then, right? I will disconnect the RV from the house in a sec which means there will be no electricity in here except if the truck is running. And there will be no running water in the bathroom. So, please don’t use it at all. If you still need to go to the bathroom, go inside the house now.”  
“I need to go,” Cat instantly says and Jade rolls her eyes while Beck says: “There you have it. Then come inside with us.”  
He, Jade and Cat leave while Tori sits down on the bed. She thinks this is really cool. Living in an RV and therefore at least a little away from your parents has to be awesome.  
“Where’s Benji?” Robbie asks, looking around.  
Tori answers: “He’s sick and will stay with Beck’s parents.”  
“Oh,” Andre makes while Trina satisfied says: “Fortunately.”  
Okay, she can’t say that. Andre and Robbie look at her disgruntled and Rex promptly says: “It would’ve been fortunate if you would’ve gotten sick.”  
“Shut up,” Trina just answers and Tori quickly cuts in: “Can we please just get along for the day? And Trina, you really don’t need to talk bad about Benji at all.”  
Nobody says anything for a while after that, until Cat is back and closes the door behind her. “We can get going,” she says with a bright smile.  
Apparently, Beck and Jade have meanwhile said goodbye to Benji and Beck has disconnected the RV, at least it doesn’t take any longer for the RV to move. They drive for about five minutes or so, before they stop again and the door gets opened after a while.  
“Who will come in with me to buy drinks?” Beck asks who stands in front of the door.  
They have decided before that they would buy all the necessary drinks together. That way, they wouldn’t all have to carry their own with them. The guys now go into the grocery store to buy them. They put them into the truck before they are finally on their way to the beach.  
In the RV, they naturally talk. First a little bit about school but Tori is of course also curious about Beck living in this thing – and Benji apparently partly as well. And Jade sometimes.  
“So, is it really true that all three of them sometimes sleep in here?” she therefore asks after a while.  
Andre nods: “Yeah, sure. Now you understand why they were so annoyed at each other while Jade’s mom was away, huh?”  
Well, surely she does. Living in such a small space together for two weeks... With a child... well... “But Beck said he also has a room inside the house – and Benji as well.” The house has definitely looked big enough for that. She could even imagine some kind of additional guest room in there in which Jade could then sleep if they would be too annoyed sleeping in the same room and bed.  
“But they like being so close,” Cat says innocently which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if they annoy each other.  
Though Robbie adds: “They do. They also all sleep in one room at Jade’s if they are staying there. They sleep most nights together on the weekends or over break. It’s just tough if Beck and Jade have to be up early with Benji not allowing neither much sleep, and then both having to concentrate in school. Then, they’re stressed.”  
“So, with whom is Benji usually over night?” Tori asks curiously. This RV definitely looks like he’s here often.  
Andre answers: “He’s sometimes with Jade and sometimes with Beck. That way, they each get some sleep for a few nights, even if Benji has trouble again.”  
“At first, they always slept together as they both wanted to be close to Benji,” Robbie remembers. “They already switched the places around though as their parents also all wanted to watch closely over them.”  
“Yeah, but then they broke up,” Andre says and Robbie nods: “I still think that had a lot to do with of them barely getting any sleep. I mean... They both woke up when Benji was crying at night, even if only one of them stood up to take care of him. So, neither got a full night of sleep at all during his first two months.”  
Andre explains further: “It was difficult after that but he did then spent a few nights with each. As Benji was so used to both of them, it worked, even if each of them sometimes looked more than relieved to see Benji in the morning at school again.”  
“It must be hard to spend a night without your child, even if you finally can sleep then,” Cat says and Tori silently agrees with her.  
Robbie also nods: “But they got together again for finals and then came break and they again, spent most time together. But I remember how they started talking at the end of break about what to do with the sleeping situation. So, it worked when neither had to go to school but with school again... And they finally decided to sleep apart and Benji to be with only one of them whenever they had to get up in the morning.”  
“So like... what? Benji spends two or three nights with Jade, the rest of the week with Beck and then the weekends with both of them? And then all over again the next week?” Tori asks.  
Andre shakes his head: “I don’t think they have a firm rhythm or something. I think at times they each have him one night, at others, one keeps him for a full week. It all depends on how well Benji sleeps and how resistent they are at that time. They are of course in luck that Benji lets that happen. They always say that Benji is so easy and they otherwise couldn’t do it at all.”  
Tori can imagine that some children couldn’t sleep in different places all the time. On the other hand... Benji always has one of his parents around him at night and that has to feel safe enough for him.  
“Yeah, and so since the beginning of this year, Beck always picks Jade up for school. He did it mostly before as well but since Benji stays with Jade’s Mom... He then either drops Benji off there or at least briefly goes inside to see him in the morning as well,” Robbie says.  
“It’s so sad they don’t bring him to school anymore,” Cat suddenly says. “It was always so fun with him around.”  
Trina makes a small huff that luckily, everyone ignores.  
“Well, it was exhausting for both of them, I guess,” Andre tells Tori. “At least in the end, when he wanted to get out of their arms to look around himself and possibly start crawling. But he’s such a great child.”  
“He is,” Tori finds herself agreeing though he barely knows him. “But that means, both have everything for him at home?”  
That must have been expensive. Two cribs alone. But of course, it makes sense.  
Robbie nods: “They even have some of his toys twice, so they don’t have to move them around all the time.”  
“Amazing,” she claims and wonders how long they will keep buying toys twice, how long they want to do this. Well... They all will graduate in a year. She doesn’t know what Jade’s and Beck’s plans are for college but possibly, they want to move together then and Benji will finally only have one home. Until then, the little boy probably will sleep through the night. And Jade and Beck both will be older themselves and maybe will be able to deal with the stress and with sleepless nights better. Though Tori herself also can’t imagine not being able to sleep through too many nights in a row.  
Suddenly, Cat asks: “Do you think Beck would be very angry if I would use his bathroom?”  
Tori blinks a few times. Honestly?  
Cat looks to the bathroom door, biting her lip.  
“You just went at his house,” Trina says, her eyebrows drawn together.  
Cat defends herself: “It’s not my fault I have to go again!”  
She doesn’t go in the RV though. It doesn’t take that much longer when they stop again and finally, the door opens. Cat shoots out like an arrow. Jade and Beck meanwhile come inside while everyone else gets up and looks if they all have all their stuff with them for the beach.  
And Tori has noticed something else, she has to ask about: “How come all these windows are tinted so dark?”  
Beck and Jade tell them that Beck’s father has bought the RV from Fat Biscuit who made sure the glasses are bulletproofed. They shortly talk about the rapper before they decide they finally have to get out as the RV quickly gets warmer again, now that the air conditioner isn’t running anymore with the truck not running.   
But they actually can’t get out. Beck tries to open the door but can’t do it and they realize, another RV has parked directly next to them and they won’t be able to open the door until it’s gone. Or until their RV stands somewhere else. And Cat has just gone to the bathroom and will be back in a minute and can just pull it slightly forward.  
Nothing to worry about.

But Cat doesn’t come back.  
They wait in silence for several minutes and Tori is sure she feels the RV heating up slowly. Gosh. She wonders how long Cat needs to find a toilet, how long it will take her to use it and come back. Surely, she doesn’t need twenty minutes that are now over.  
And suddenly, Jade’s voice, sounding angry and also a little... defeated: “I have no signal.”  
She sits on the end of the bed, phone in her hand. Beck sits next to her and pulls his own phone out. “Me neither.”  
“What do you want to do?” Tori asks.  
“I thought about calling Cat,” Jade spits out, types something on her phone and then throws it to the head of the bed where it almost hits Andre who dodges it just in time. “Fuck.”  
Well, and of course this is terrible but it’s of no use possibly destroying your phone. Tori assures her: “She will come.”  
At the same time she pulls her own phone out of her bag though, to notice she also has no signal. Trina and Robbie also look on theirs and as they don’t say a word, they apparently have no signal as well. For whichever reason Andre doesn’t check his phone.  
“Who cares?” Jade now harshly says and Tori doesn’t get it. Jade is the one who has just thrown her phone away because she has no signal to call Cat.  
Tori just wants to tell Jade that she makes no sense, when Beck already says calmly: “No signal also means that my parents can’t call us if something’s wrong with Benji.”  
“Oh,” Tori makes. Okay, that explains Jade’s anger.  
Beck says, obviously also not happy: “Though it’s also not like we could get back while we’re still trapped in here.”  
Tori watches how Beck looks to Jade who looks away with her lips pressed together, how he rubs her hand with his and how she finally intertwines her fingers with his.

It’s getting seriously hot in this damn RV and they don’t even have water. Nobody is able to call Cat and nobody knows what has happened to her.  
“I should have gotten that fish tank,” Tori hears Beck murmuring after some time.  
Jade cocks an eyebrow. “Is the heat already getting into your brain?” Tori thinks that there is worry in Jade’s voice somehow.  
Beck shrugs. “I’m just saying... There would be water in a fish tank.”  
Jade snaps: “So, you’re blaming me for not having any water?”  
Okay, Tori has no idea how Jade jumped to that conclusion with what Beck has said. She also sees Andre and Robbie looking up confused while Trina almost seems passed out – okay, if she, Tori, has gathered all her strength, she will have to get over to her sister to check if she’s alright.  
But for now, she listens to Beck who also is confused: “No, I...”  
Jade cuts in, harshly: “I told you back then that you already have a human being to take care of and you don’t need some stupid fish. That’s why you didn’t get them. So, you’re blaming me.”  
“I don’t...” Beck starts helplessly and then clearly states: “It was supposed to be a joke. As if one of us would drink water where fish have peed in.”  
“You’re not funny, Beck,” Jade says, still a little bitterly.  
Beck sarcastically answers: “You totally are, babe.”  
Jade glares at him which doesn’t make him wince in the slightest but they don’t say another word about it. Instead, after another minute, as Tori slowly stands up to go over to Trina, she even sees how their hands find each other again. Tori feels like she would explode if she would touch someone longer than necessary. She will shortly touch Trina’s shoulder in a second but more than that? In this heat? Definitely not.  
But Jade and Beck hold onto each other despite the heat.

After they found out about Trina having water all along – but now having to share a cap full between each other –, Jade’s breakdown because she’s sweating and Andre getting them to sing when they all believe the end is close, Cat is finally back.  
They get out in an instant and have water bottles in their hands only a few seconds later. They drink the water and splash it into their faces as they are finally able to breathe freely again. And they notice that the other RV isn’t standing next to them anymore. Who knows how long ago it drove away, how long ago they already could’ve gone outside.  
But they don’t try to think about that. They still have time and promptly run to the ocean.  
They throw their bags into the sand and Andre, Robbie, Trina and Cat are all already on their way to the water while Tori stops as she sees Jade pulling her phone out yet again and Beck stepping up close to her.  
Jade shortly types something in, then obviously calls someone and directly puts it on speaker.  
A woman picks up: “Hello. Are you having fun?” That’s Mrs. Oliver.  
“Yeah,” Beck answers. “We just wanted to check in on Benji.”  
With a smile, Tori turns around and also leaves for the water. Beck and Jade should be able to call about their son in private.

The day ends up being great fun, even though they have been trapped in that RV for ages.  
When they get back in the evening, Beck lets them out again and his parents must have already seen him pulling into the driveway out of the window.  
At least, his father opens the front door in the same moment and puts Benji down there. The little boy squeals as he sees his parents.  
“Mama. Dada,” he calls out and first walks a few steps before he falls and then just keeps on crawling to them.  
Jade walks up to him and scoots him up happily while everyone gets out of the RV.  
“Hey, baby,” Tori hears her says. “Are you all better?”  
The boy nods as if he understands and Beck also steps up to them, smiles and drops a kiss on his head.  
“How was your day at the beach?” Mr. Oliver asks, now also having walked closer to them. And the question definitely has been directed to all of them.  
Cat already answers with a bright smile: “It was so much fun!”  
“We actually had a good time,” Beck agrees with a smile. “Though it’s good that Benji stayed here.”  
“Oh, my god. Imagine if he would have been with us,” Jade instantly says, looking up into Beck’s face with a deadpan stare.  
Tori doesn’t even want to imagine. Benji is still so young and small and surely, he could’ve died when they were trapped in the RV. Though maybe, Beck or Jade also would’ve found some way out there then, would’ve destroyed a window, bulletproof or not.  
“He wasn’t,” Beck answers Jade, reassuringly and shares a short kiss with her. “He was here and he’s fine.”  
And Benji does look much better now then in the morning. As it seems, they really were in luck and it was just a short sickness. And everything is fine now again.  
Cat of course still has to tell Benji everything she experienced during the trip while Mr. Oliver goes back inside and Benji keeps sitting in Jade’s arms. Trina is the one telling Tori that they will go now, and she still would like to stay and keep talking (as they all comment on Cat’s stories) but Andre and Robbie decide they will also go home and that’s that for their trip.


	5. Wi-Fi in the Sky and Beck's Big Break and The Great Ping Pong Scam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!  
> Thank you so much for the kudos you've already given me! :)  
> This chapter now will hold three episodes and still be short considering the previous chapters. But I hope you will still like it. Oh, and there's a time jump as we will go through summer break here.  
> Have fun reading!

The heat wave is finally over and on the weekend after their trip to venice beach, Trina and she fly to visit their aunt. Finals are still drawing closer though and they have so much school work to do next to it.  
Gradstein even wants them to do a ten page script over the weekend in groups and Tori has agreed with Andre, Cat and Beck to do it on Sunday as soon as she’s back – but now her plane is late and they try doing it over video chat. Which isn’t working at all. Tori already feels stressed and Cat isn’t helping at all, now even using some weird effect on her video, then Jade suddenly calls and Beck accepts it though they still have pretty much all ten pages to write.  
“Benji!” Cat instantly and excitedly says as Jade appears with the little boy in her lap that’s already in his pajamas with the stuffed giraffe in his hands, biting its head.  
Beck meanwhile directly tries to explain to Jade: “Hey, look: We’re doing this project that’s due tomorrow morning, so...”  
“Where’ve you been?” Jade cuts through.  
Beck seems a little confused. “Home. Why?”  
“I left you a voicemail and you haven’t called me back,” Jade answers sharply.  
“I saw but I’m doing homework,” Beck says.  
Jade raises her eyebrows. “Benji could’ve pretty much died if it had been an emergency.”  
The boy looks into his mother’s face as she says his name, and makes a noise. Jade doesn’t look back but starts bobbing him up and down on her legs.  
Tori sees Cat pulling a worried face as if something bad did happen to Benji.  
“He obviously is still alive and well,” Beck says reasonably though (he must have known that Jade would've called more than once and also would've texted him if something bad happened to Benji, which is why he hasn't bother to listen to the voice mail yet) and Jade directly cuts in again: “And not thanks to you.”  
Okay, that’s unfair as it’s apparently Jade’s night to take care of their son and he truly is fine.  
“I...” Beck begins but Jade already interrupts, apparently only now having noticed: “Why do you have that animal?”  
Beck has the puppy on his lap again and directly explains: “It’s my neighbor’s dog.”  
“His neighbor, the cheerleader,” Andre puts in and Jade’s face freezes: “Cheerleader?”  
“Why? Why would you say that?” Beck asks Andre exasperated who apologizes but it’s obviously to late, judging by Jade’s look.  
Cat says something weird about cheerleaders having pep but soon enough, Jade raises her voice again: “Why are you doing favors for a cheerleader and what is she doing for you?”  
“It’s not what you think,” Beck answers. “She’s just...”  
But he doesn’t get to finish another time when Jade already decides: “I’m coming over there.”  
He says she doesn’t need to but then, she’s already gone.  
Okay, so this is going really well. “Alright, so far we have nothing,” she notices but instead of all of them going back to work, Cat pouts: “N’aw, now I didn’t show Benji any of the funny effects. But look, I’m in a kaleidoscope!”  
Promptly, Andre wants to know how to do that and soon, all of three of them play with the effects.  
Tori gets more and more irritated. It’s not just them but also Trina and Robbie and she can’t help but getting angry which finally makes Cat disconnect. Well, but it’s still her, Andre and Beck, and Cat hasn’t helped them anyway, so....  
Then, Tori hears a knock from Beck’s place. It’s obviously Jade, who has finally arrived.  
“I’m busy working on a project,” Beck calls out to her from the couch.  
“I need to talk to you,” she is clearly heard inside of the RV and through the computer.  
“Sorry, the door is locked,” Beck calls back and suddenly, there’s a loud noise and Tori can see Jade walking into the RV in the background of the screen. Beck closes his eyes for a second, doesn’t even need to look. “Now, it’s not locked.”  
“She has a key?” Tori asks and... well... Maybe, she has as this is one of her son’s homes apparently and she also sleeps there sometimes. Though what was that noise all about?  
Beck answers: “No, she has a foot.” So, she broke the lock.  
“What is going on?” Jade asks pointedly as she steps next to Beck. Tori can’t see her face anymore but she’s obviously angry.  
Beck calmly looks up to her. “Where is Benji?”  
Oh, right. Where is their son? Jade doesn’t have him with him.  
“I left him at home with my mom because I didn’t think he should witness his father cheating on me,” Jade answers. Wow. However she got to the conclusion that Beck is cheating on her from looking after a small puppy.  
“I’m not cheating,” Beck defends himself and Jade prompts: “Then put that dog down and tell me about this ceerleader chick who lives next door.”  
“I’m not gonna put the dog down,” Beck says though.  
“Oh, aren’t you?”  
“If you want to meet the cheerleader, she’s gonna be back any minute to pick up her dog,” Beck says and Tori really doesn’t know if that’s smart. She wonders if she will see Jade murder someone in a few minutes.  
“Then, I wait for her,” Jade says and sits down on the bed, in the background of the screen.  
Well, and that means they can finally get back to this script. Only, that they still get barely anything done. Trina disrupts again and tells her about Perez Hilton being on the plane, and then, Andre’s grandmother destroys his laptop, so he’s gone.  
Tori wants to give up on the assignment altogether but Beck tells her that they can still do it together. But they get interrupted by another knock on Beck’s door.  
Beck calls for his neighbor to get inside and Jade repeats it angrily: “Yeah, come in.”  
Beck’s neighbor actually is a kid. This is amazing. Gosh, does Jade make a stupid face as she sees the girl walking up to Beck: “Hi, Beck.”  
“Hi, Ally,” Beck answers sweetly and his smirk says everything as he turns to Jade: “Jade, this is my next door neighbor Ally. Ally, this is my girlfriend Jade.”  
“Nice to meet you,” Ally says to Jade and Jade even answers, apparently almost embarrassed: “Hello, Ally.”  
“You must be Benji’s mom then,” Ally then even notices.  
Jade nods. “Yeah.”  
“He’s so cute,” Ally says with a smile before she turns back to Beck: “Thanks for taking care of Sparkles.”  
“Any time, kiddo,” Beck answers and hands the puppy back to her.  
Ally takes it happily and then suddenly leans over to Beck, saying in a whisper and yet loud enough to hear for Tori: “Your girlfriend’s pretty.”  
“I know,” Beck answers earnestly and then they say good bye to each other and Ally leaves.  
And this is just too good. Tori has to taunt a little: “Wow, Jade. Looks like you got some competition there.”  
Jade has moved over to the couch, next to Beck now, and he already asks: “You’re gonna say you’re sorry?”  
Jade doesn’t. Instead, accusingly: “You didn’t tell me it was her. The kid next door.” Which means that Jade has heard about her before. Obviously, they haven’t met yet as Beck has introduced them but Ally does know Benji. She must have met him when Jade wasn’t over and possibly, Beck has let Ally play with his son a little and has told Jade later about this girl next door that liked their son.  
“You didn’t give me a chance,” Beck says which is true but Jade doesn’t see it that way, claims that Beck likes making her jealous and of course they keep on fighting though it now could have been so easily done with Ally being just a little girl.  
Tori tries to cut in because they have to finish this script but of course, Jade disconnects. Great.

 

They meet up really early on Monday morning, all four of them, and get the script done in time.  
After that, Tori feels weirdly relaxed although it’s already the next week that’s finals week. And this week, there’s something else great going on: Beck gets a small role in a movie and on Tuesday, he comes in late for school as he’s on set for fitting and everything.  
Tori is already excited to hear about everything and that’s why she walks up to Jade in front of her locker before the first lesson, together with Andre.  
“Have you already heard from him?” she asks Jade after a short greeting.  
Jade slowly looks at her and Tori is almost sure that Jade doesn’t really feel like talking to her – on the other hand... she seems pretty proud of Beck though it’s only such a small role, and she seems to love that her boyfriend will be in a movie.  
Finally, she truly answers: “No. His call time was 5am and he’s probably been busy the whole way through. I sent him a photo of Benji when I was awake and he sent back a heart but that’s it.”  
Tori can’t believe Jade has just told her that. “You sent him a photo of Benji?”  
Jade rolls her eyes, obviously also knowing that she rarely talks about something so... private, especially with Tori. She sounds almost annoyed as she answers: “It’s something we do the very rare times the other one can’t see him in the morning.”  
“That’s so cute,” Tori earnestly says because it is. Also, Beck taking the time to look at it and send back a heart... That’s just adorable as well.  
Jade glares at her though. “Never call anything I do cute ever again or I will seriously hurt you.”  
And she walks past her and leaves Andre and her standing at her locker.

 

Beck comes to school at the end of Sikowitz’ class. And he tells them that they will be able to be extras in his scene. Of course, they all want to do that.  
Tori gets a ride from Andre to the studios, in which they are shooting. Andre and she are still getting out of the car when another car stops next to them. It’s Jade’s car and she and Robbie get out from the front while Cat gets out from the backseat on the right side. Jade directly opens the door for the backseat on the left side and actually pulls Benji from there while everyone else still greets each other.  
Tori hasn’t known that Benji also would come but she’s happy to see him. And he’s also dressed without too bright colors, without any stripes or dots, just like all of them are supposed to. Apparently, they will check inside if their clothes are fine or if they can’t be in the scene after all. Tori does have to wonder about Jade still being dressed like usual, black and gothlike. She would’ve almost expected something more... “normal” from her as well to make sure she wouldn’t be sorted out. On the other hand... It’s only natural that everyone wears quite different clothes in any sort of restaurant or café.  
Beck is obviously already there – Tori now also sees his car as well in the parking lot.  
They walk to the entrance where some guy checks their names. Apparently, Benji is also on the list, at least Jade says as soon as it’s her turn: “Benjamin and Jade West.”  
The guy only shortly looks at her, then at Benji, before he checks his list, ticks two names off, then lets her go through.  
Inside, a woman is running around and apparently giving everyone a spot to get a good background. She’s busy with one of their classmates actually when they arrive, but then she comes to them.  
“You’re also some of Beck’s friend?” she asks and they shortly nod when she already looks at Benji and then at Jade: “This must be his son, yes? You’re his girlfriend?”  
“I am,” Jade answers and not in any way harsh or pointedly or something like she talks a lot but actually normally and nicely.  
“Beck assured us you’ll be able to keep him quiet, which is why we were okay with you bringing him here,” the woman continues and leaves Jade room to answer again. And Tori is sure, she now will get a little harsh because this woman almost says it in a way as if she’s sure Jade won’t be able to keep Benji quiet (and possibly she isn’t – Tori thinks that heavily depends on Benji’s mood, though he does look positively relaxed at the moment).  
But Jade stays calm yet again as she nods: “He will be quiet, don’t worry.”  
“Good,” the woman decides. “Otherwise, he sadly will have to leave. But for now, I want you to sit here with him.”  
She drags Jade over to a chair which makes her perfectly visible from the camera angle they are shooting from first, the way it looks.  
“And you...” she drags Andre with him, sits him down next to Jade and then also Tori at the same table while Cat has to move to the other side and stand there with some more extras.  
“This is so cool,” Tori says as she looks around, being on a set for the first time.  
“It is,” Andre agrees. “And there is Beck.”  
Beck has just walked in, already in his clothes for the role. It isn’t the woman that shows everyone else their position but the director who tells him where to start. And he actually is supposed to go by their table, talk to them at the beginning of the scene. Which is great. Even though Beck doesn’t truly have time to talk to them now, but Tori watches how he looks over to Jade as the director explains to him what to do and how he smiles slightly. And she sees just in time how Jade smiles back at him while she rocks Benji.  
As soon as the director is done talking to Beck, he briefly talks to the woman from earlier, takes a few steps back himself and then calls out: “Okay, everyone: Remember where you are right now, that’s where you will start the scene. Now, take a short break but don’t leave the room.”  
They all stand up and Tori wants to go over to Beck to wish him good luck but Beck already gets pulled away by some other man and Tori guesses, even though he only has one line, he does need to get his hair done another time or something.  
But Cat comes back to them and it’s while Andre moves over to drink something that Jade suddenly talks to Benji: “So, we talked about this, baby, yes? It will be the first time you’re in a movie.” She strokes his cheek with her thumb, almost proud. “Behave yourself for your daddy, huh?”  
“Dada,” Benji squeals and Jade nods: “Yeah, Daddy. Sh.”  
“Well, hopefully, he won’t call for Beck in the middle of the scene,” Tori slowly says. Apparently, Benji wouldn’t be in the movie then anymore and Jade would probably also leave then to take care of Benji. Which would be kind of sad for Beck, Tori could imagine. At least, she guesses the main reason he wanted Benji to be here at all was to share this with him, to have him close to him.  
“No kidding,” Jade dryly answers and Cat smiles: “I bet he will be all good. Right, Benji? You know how to behave.”  
She kisses the young boy’s cheek and he looks at her with a bright smile.  
It doesn’t take much longer for them to be asked to get into first positions. Jade puts the pacifier, that’s again clipped at Benji’s shirt, into Benji’s mouth and he accepts it without hesitation.  
They sit down and the director explains the scene shortly, after Melinda Murray has arrived. “The waiter...” he says at one point and turns around to Beck questioningly.  
“Beck,” he quickly says and Jade cuts in: “My boyfriend and the father of my child.”  
The director looks at her for a heartbeat, then: “The father of her child.” He obviously doesn’t care. “He will come in, do his line and then move off to the left.”  
Then, they finally get started. And it’s actually going really well. Benji may shortly stretch his arms in Beck’s direction as he stops at their table but he doesn’t make a noise and it’s also not like it would be a problem for the movie for that to happen in the background. Children do stretch their arms out sometimes. It’s nothing to worry about.  
But then, Melinda claims Beck has said his line wrong and that’s just not true. Tori checks it and has to say something because it’s unfair for Beck to be reprimanded in any way if he has done nothing wrong.  
Jade warns her to sit back down – and for once, Tori should’ve listened to her, Tori thinks in retrospect.  
Beck actually gets fired because of her. And she, Tori, does as well though she only has been an extra anyway.  
She waits at Beck’s car for him. He obviously still has to change back into his own clothes. But Tori has barely stopped at the car when she also sees Jade coming out into the parking lot, Benji in her arms.  
“Are you happy with what you did?” she directly shoots at Tori.  
“No. Of course not,” she instantly answers because she isn’t. She’s sorry she ruined it for Beck. And of course for herself too.  
“How stupid can you be?” Jade angrily asks. “Gosh. Get lost.”  
“I have to tell Beck I’m sorry,” Tori says though. She can’t just go. She wants Beck to know that she didn’t know this would happen.  
“You’re the worst,” Jade spits out but that’s also the moment, Benji looses the pacifier and starts crying.  
Jade instantly turns around with him and walks a few steps away as she starts rocking him and whispering to him, nevertheless shooting angry looks over her shoulder to Tori. She successfully calms Benji down and luckily doesn’t start with Tori again.  
Beck also comes out not too long after. He doesn’t look as defeated about it as Tori definitely is and would be in his place as well.  
“I’m so sorry, Beck,” Tori says when Beck is close enough.  
He shakes his head slightly. “Don’t worry about it.”  
“She made you loose your job,” Jade cuts in but he shrugs: “Well...”  
They shortly kiss and he even draws Benji out of her arms, gives him a kiss as well before he asks: “Where is everyone else?”  
Tori also wonders and Jade answers (as she probably wouldn’t have Tori): “They may do a different scene now which also requires extras, so they might be able to stay for that – or they will be able to give their contact information, so they will be informed when to come for that scene again. I don’t know. I don’t care.”  
“Good for them,” Beck says and means it.  
Tori also thinks they still should stay and be extras. Why shouldn’t they? She does notice though that Jade obviously hasn’t stayed for any of that, that she isn’t an extra anymore although she could be.  
Now, Jade also pulls him into another kiss before she says: “Let’s get home.”  
“What about your car?” Beck asks her but she makes a disregarding hand gesture: “I’ve given Robbie the key. I told him he will have to pay more than just the repair if he gets a scratch in it at all. Come on.”  
She pulls Benji back into her own arms and goes over to the left door for the back seat. Beck klicks his key for the car to open and Jade opens the door and puts Benji into the car. Apparently, they also have a baby seat for him in both their cars as well, so they don’t always have to drag it around.  
Beck turns to Tori again: “Should we give you a ride home?”  
“We won’t,” Jade instantly cuts through.  
And Tori feels guilty anyway and also can’t imagine Beck wanting her around right now. She has just lost him his job. He should be with his grilfriend and their son.  
So, she says: “It’s fine. I’ll take the bus.”  
Beck nods with a light smile and as he passes Jade as she’s on her way to the passenger’s seat, they share another kiss before they both get into the car and drive away.  
Tori does get him his job back in the end, luckily.

 

Tori has passed the finals and gets into her senior year in Hollywood Arts, which she is very happy about. She still wants to learn so much more about all kind of performance arts or also arts in general. And she especially does feel like she aspires to be a singer by now.  
Trina has meanwhile graduated and their parents have allowed her to take a year off, to stay at home and try to audition for everything she can. The deal is that if she won’t have had any real success until next year, she has to start working another job or go to college.  
Summer break is great. She is away for some time with her family but also meets up with everyone every once in a while. Whenever they all meet up, Benji surely is with them and it’s fascinating to see how fast he grows and how fast he learns. He’s already one year and five months old when senior year starts in the middle of August. He actually is much better at walking by now, can say several words and is an amazingly bright child.  
Tori likes him very much and is kind of sad that it goes back to school now and she will naturally see even less of him – though she can imagine that it has to be so much worse for Jade and Beck because Benji is their very own child.  
The thing is... back at school, her friends, with whom she has arguably spent a lot of time with over the break, suddenly don’t want to spend any time with her anymore because of some ping pong team. She’s sure they are joking though they’re explaining that there is a tournament at the beginning of each semester – this time even after only two weeks of semester in which they therefore have to practice a lot.  
She tries to get in but Jade doesn’t let her, and she knows anyway that there’s something going on with this team thing. Why should they all be in some ping pong team? Especially Jade? Though why should especially Beck and Jade otherwise spend their afternoons in school if it wasn’t necessary, with having a child at home?  
And she does find out and gets into the “team” because of it. Everyone else has changed in the bathroom of the restaurant and they wait to be seated when Jade, tightning Beck’s tie in that very second that’s perfectly color-coordinated with her dress, suddenly says to Tori: “Don’t ruin this night.”  
“Why should I?” Tori asks offended.  
Jade cocks an eyebrow at her. “Because you somehow ruin everything. And this is Beck’s and mine definite night out without Benji every semester and I won’t have you mess with it.”  
Tori stares at Jade incredulously and Beck rubs Jade’s arms and drops a kiss on her forehead. Whatever’s Jade’s deal again.  
But talking about Benji... There has been that thing that Tori wanted to ask anyway, so she now addresses Beck. “How come you 'practiced' each afternoon for your fake team anyway with Benji at home?” Tori has gotten to know them by now as quite dedicated parents who do spend as much time as possible with their son.  
Jade actually glares at her for that question and Tori feels slightly bad about it as she sees how it could sound as if she is accusing them of not taking enough care of their son or something. And she already has seen in her first two weeks of knowing Benji that Beck and Jade feel guilty as it is about the situation with their son and not having all that much time with him.  
Beck answers though, with a shrug: “Well, he was with us during our... practices at the beginning of this whole scheme. It has only been the second time now that he wasn’t but both times it has just been for such a short time and only a few hours all in all and we think we can allow ourselves that from time to time.”  
“You definitely can,” Tori hurries to say because of course they can and should.  
Well, and she doesn’t ruin this night although Jade accuses her of doing that when the bill comes. Instead, she actually saves it.


	6. Cat's New Boyfriend, Freak the Freak Out, Rex Dies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos! :) Hope you keep enjoying this story!

During the next week, Tori meets her ex-boyfriend Danny again who’s now together with Cat (great) and Danny actually will even come to the Kick Back.  
Tori doesn’t know why she feels so weird about that but she somehow just does.  
“How is everything?” Beck asks as he sits down next to her after lunch in their next class that they have together.  
Tori shrugs and Beck checks: “Wanna talk about it?”  
“There’s not much to talk about,” Tori says because she doesn’t really know what’s going on with herself anyway.  
“If you say so,” Beck says.  
Tori nods but she has this sort of sick feeling in her stomach ever since lunch and since Cat has asked Danny to come to the Kick Back. The thought of standing around there with Cat and Danny... Well... Though she also doesn’t have to spend any time with them. They probably like time alone anyway when they’re freshly dating.  
Maybe, she can talk a little with Beck there. “You will be at the Kick Back, yeah?” she makes sure.  
“Sure,” Beck answers and Tori decides: “Good.”  
So, she can talk a little with him. Probably not dance with him with Jade right there as well, even if she only would want to do it as friends. If Jade will be there at all. Tori remembers Benji again and... she doesn’t know if he would and could come to something like that. It won’t run too late as it’s still somehow a school event – but surely too late for a one and a half year old.  
“Will Benji come?”  
“No,” Beck answers, apparently not confused by the sudden question after his son. “That’s not really a place for him. Jade and I will see how long we’ll stay.”  
Of course, they would want to go home at some point, to get to their son.  
“Have you ever not gone to a school event because of him?” she curiously asks, shortly glancing to the clock at the wall, then to the door. Their teacher is late but whatever... Tori will use the time to talk some more to Beck.  
Beck answers: “We have. But this school also does a lot and noone needs to go to everything. But yeah, it’s good that the Kick Back is so early this semester. We have just spent all of break together with him and it’s easier for us to leave him with our parents now, so shortly after. In the middle of semester we feel much more guilty with these things.”  
Okay, it’s the first time she actually hears Beck or Jade using the word “guilty” in respect to their son and the situation with him. Even though, Tori has been sure to see guilt in their faces before.  
“You never have to feel guilty,” she says though. “You’re really great parents.”  
She has seen them handle him after all during break a lot, being so close and lovely with him, explaining a lot to him though he’s possibly too young to understand, making him laugh a lot.  
Beck smiles. “Thanks.”  
Tori smiles as well before she notices: “And it’s really amazing to see Benji grow.” Because it is. She has only seen that with relatives and she hasn’t seen them as often. But it’s awesome to see him walk better every day and to understand more and more words when he starts babbling.  
“It is, huh?” Beck replies and Tori asks interested: “How is he at the moment?”  
Now, she has again not seen him for about three weeks, since school has started again. She wonders if he’s difficult or easy at the moment, how Jade and Beck are doing with him.  
Beck understands the question right. “He’s wonderfully easy at the moment which is great. We’ll see when he gets into his next phase and you know... we won’t be able to sleep again.”  
He says it lightly and with a smile but Tori knows it’s also serious. “Well, but you’ll also survive every difficult phase.” She remembers her mother sometimes talking about how difficult it has been when she and Trina have been little but how wonderful it has been at the same time. And with a smile she adds: “And it’s all good when he laughs anyway, isn’ t it?”  
Beck seems amused: “Like the idea that your child’s smile makes everything better again and makes it worth it? Yeah well... Sometimes it totally does but other times it’s just some nice chliché that’s not true. At least not for me.” He shrugs. “If you haven’t slept at all at night and have an important test the next day, it doesn’t matter if he smiles or not. Well, you see his smile and think: ‘Good, don’t cry again.’ It’s just not as easy. There are moments where I want to throw everything away and just run. It’s Jade who can make me feel better then again. I don’t know how other parents actually survive with having to go to work and doing housework and not having anyone right there in case of it being too difficult like their parents. Someone they trust and can give their child to before they do something bad.”  
Tori stares at Beck. She has never heard anyone say something like that. She hears everyone talking so positively about parenthood but Beck doesn’t seem so positive.  
Though he returns the look and has to smile again: “The thing is... I still love him with all my heart, every second of my life. I still want to protect him at all costs. He’s worth everything, even when he’s crying and I’m unnerved. Which is an amazing feeling when you stop and think about it.” Because it’s a truly unconditional love. A love that runs so deeply that probably only parents can truly understand it.  
Tori has to smile as well when finally their teacher also comes rushing in.

She does see Benji on Sunday as Beck and Jade come over to meet with Robbie, Andre and Trina (!) at her house for those stupid fish. Trina has visited their school once during the week and must have somehow told Robbie all about it then.  
While Beck and Jade are about to hold their feet in the tank, Andre holds Benji, sitting on the couple’s other side than Trina.  
Tori doesn’t care much. She just tries to reach Cat to make okay what she has done wrong the night prior. And good thing that she hasn’t taken any interest in those fishes at all, as she finds everyone else in the hospital because of them a day later (at least they haven’t put Benji’s feet in as well – he obviously already has baby smooth skin – and the young boy is with Beck’s parents).

It’s almost a week later that the whole group of friends decides to go to Karaoke Dokie. Except Tori who has to take care of Trina who will get her wisdom teeth taken out. Great.  
It’s Saturday morning and Tori has barely slept as Trina has whined the whole time. Now, she gets woken up by the door bell.  
She opens and sees Robbie, Andre and Beck with Benji in his arms standing in front of the door.  
“What?” she asks unnerved, already moving back into the house.  
They follow her in, Beck saying sarcastically: “Nice to see you, too.”  
“Thanks for the sunshine,” Andre also agrees and Robbie is the one, directly stating: “Wow, you look horrible.”  
And as Tori turns back to look at them, she even sees Benji having furrowed his eyes at her as he leans against his father, sucking on his pacifier.  
“Why are you guys here?” Tori asks them with a sigh.  
Apparently, they are because they want to cheer her up after taking care of Trina. They brought frozen yogurt for them and of course, it’s all sweet. She explains that she’s just cranky because Trina drove her crazy all night and... Beck doesn’t even pull a face, he doesn’t look as if he himself is suddenly thinking about Benji but he’s sitting right there and Tori does understand Jade’s mood so much better suddenly if Benji is keeping her awake so much of the night like Trina has with Tori tonight. Though she remembers Andre saying, still before summer break, that Jade has always been that way.  
But Beck and Jade have fought more easily and about even dumber things when they suddenly spent the night together and were both sleep deprived. She also can understand that so much better now.  
The guys look for Trina and seem horrified that she tied her up although she had to. They wonder if she might actually be dead but Tori is sure she isn’t and wants to know more about the night they had.  
She asks after the Northridge girls first but they quickly get back to Trina by the mouth blood on Tori’s arm. And she remembers that she should probably flush her gum sockets by now again and asks the guys to untie Trina for that when the door bell rings again.  
Gosh, who else comes visiting this early on a Saturday?  
She tells the guys again to untie Trina and wake her up  
“Yeah, we got it,” Beck says and actually puts Benji down before he approaches Trina with the other two. Benji stays in the middle of the room indecisively, but standing savely on his little legs.  
Tori opens the door and finds Jade and Cat in front of it, greeting her.  
“We brought you frozen yogurt,” Cat happily says while Jade looks past Tori and with a small smile opens and closes her hand as if to wave to a child.  
Tori shortly turns and sees Benji toddling a little closer and waving excitedly to his mother, smiling but not dropping his pacifier.  
Tori would’ve deemed it cute – especially Jade reacting like that with a smile, obviously not even surprised to see her son here – but she hasn’t slept well at all. “Why? You know, frozen yogurt doesn’t solve all the world’s problems.”  
Jade lets her smile fall as she dryly tells Cat: “I told you to bring her donuts.”  
Cat meanwhile innocently asks why Tori isn’t nice and Jade follows up with asking why she looks disgusting. Yeah, thanks. She points at Trina who is still getting untied by the guys and both Cat and Jade seem to understand.  
Then, they tell her they have to talk and Tori says they should go outside to talk and she wants to leave when Benji has finally and slowly toddled up to them.  
“Hey, Benji,” Cat now says to him with a bright smile before she makes room for Tori to leave the house.  
Jade meanwhile runs with her fingers through the boy’s hair before she quietly tells him: “Go to your daddy, yeah? Where is he?”  
Benji turns and points in the direction and Tori leaves the house with a smile while Jade leads Benji a few steps closer to Beck. She takes the frozen yogurt out of Cat’s hand as she sits down to eat some of it after all.  
Jade also steps outside again, pulling the door close behind her. She suddenly has a key in her hand. Wherever she got that from. But it’s none of Tori’s, so she also doesn’t really care as tired as she is.  
“So, what’s up?” she asks though.  
They start roughly telling her which already engages her, then they shortly get distracted by Trina’s mouth blood on her arm which Jade of course deems cool, then she prompts them to tell her about last evening in detail: “Anyway... What exactly happened?”  
Jade starts again: “While I got a drink and Benji stayed with Beck,” – Tori has heard that they would take Benji with them and therefore not stay there late – “one of those two girls started flirting with him.”  
“Benji was on his lap,” Cat makes sure to say as if that is really bad taste. Which Tori has to agree with though possibly the girls didn’t know that Benji was Back’s son, instead of being his brother or something.  
“And she’s still alive?” Tori asks, raising her eyebrows at Jade. Maybe, Jade has killed that girl and they want her to help hide the body.  
“Yes,” Jade says casually.  
“But we got into a singing competition,” Cat adds.  
Jade matter-of-factly states: “They were so bad.”  
“They so were,” Cat cut in which means a lot, coming from Cat, Tori thinks. Cat isn’t someone to badmouth anyone.  
“But suddenly, the daddy of one of them came up and decided they won and we aren’t allowed to sing there anymore,” Jade says, rolling her eyes.  
“Her daddy?” Tori asks and Jade nods: “Owns the place.”  
“I think that’s why they won,” Cat innocently says but at least Jade doesn’t make a mean comment about it.  
Tori checks if she has also understood right with them being banned from singing there ever again which is true and... wow... They sound really awful.  
Jade and Cat ask her if she wants to help them get back at those girls but Tori has to take care of Trina. Jade says she shouldn’t worry though while Cat states Jade has a plan. Of course Jade does. But Tori doesn’t know.  
She looks back into the house where Trina just now looks like she’s about to murder Robbie and Andre while Beck has stepped back into a safe distant with Benji on his arms, but watching and shouting out warnings.  
Okay, she doesn’t want to be back in this mess. If Jade really has a plan that also makes sure someone is there for Trina (because she can’t leave her all alone in this state; that would be really mean)...  
“So, the plan?” she therefore asks, closing the door behind her again.  
They explain to her how they want to make a little bet with the girls and have Tori sing against them though Jade dryly says that probably everyone would be good enough to win against them but they don’t want to risk anything. Tori is happy about that, as that means that Jade also deems her as better than average in singing – which Jade would possibly never say out loud like that.  
She does wonder what they will do about Trina until then. Yes, sure, she can get a free evening and night this way if they force those girls to take care of Trina, but there’s still a whole day to go and Jade and Cat want to take her with them now to get some make up onto her to make sure the girls will pick her, as superficial as they are.  
“The guys will take care of her,” Jade says with a shrug and Tori is impressed that Jade even has thought about Trina too, despite her not liking her at all.  
But Tori is sure the guys don’t know anything about this plan and maybe, they will just leave. They also don’t like Trina and Trina in this state... Tori would understand them just leaving and she really doesn’t want Trina to be alone.  
“Will they?” she asks sceptically and Jade holds up the key in her hand: “I’ve taken Beck’s car key.”  
And they obviously have come together in Beck’s car, he, Andre, Robbie, Rex and Benji. But... “They can still get away.” There are busses and they could even call a taxi or something.  
“Of course they could and will want to,” Jade answers. “But it makes more trouble this way which means it will take some more time for them to leave, in which they will think about what they’re doing. They also know they can’t leave her alone like this.” She tilts her head slightly before she adds with a smirk: “And Beck doesn’t want to set a bad example for Benji which is why I was okay with him taking him here to take care of you and your dumb sister.”  
Which means that she has already thought of the plan over night. And of course she wouldn’t have let Beck take Benji alone with him to Tori’s house if it hasn’t been part of the plan. And of course Jade uses her son yet again – but again for something good.  
And Tori is on board if everything is taken care of. So, she agrees and she and Cat already move over to Jade’s car while Jade actually opens Beck’s. Tori already wants to ask if they will take that and why, when Jade pulls the all too familiar bag out of the car. Yes, of course. Beck came in before without any supplies for Benji. But Tori has gotten to know over the break that this bag always goes where Benji does if only for the diapers.  
Jade now puts the bag down in front of the front door, then she locks Beck’s car again and they all get into hers.

The plan succeeds and Tori has the best time.  
Afterwards, she makes those two girls, that really are terrible singers and even worse people, drive her home to show them whom they will have to babysit and get the guys at the same time as Sikowitz actually has shown up at Karaoke Dokie and plans to sing something.  
Robbie has Benji in his arms as Tori runs inside while the two girls still get out of the car, and his phone in his hand – he probably has tried to call her, Cat or Jade again – while Beck and Andre sit to either of Trina’s sides and massage her face.  
They instantly get up as Tori comes in and Tori barely explains when she calls the girls in. The guys seem amused as Tori tells the girls what they have to do and Beck already takes Benji out of Robbie’s arms when Tori says they should go now.  
They do. Jade has given Tori Beck’s car key she now hands over to Beck and they all get into his car. Benji’s bag gets thrown into the trunk and Tori is the one sitting in the middle of the back seat, right in between Robbie with Rex and Benji in his baby seat. While they drive to Karaoke Dokie, Tori tells them all about Jade’s plan and how the day has progressed.  
She only ends her story when they stop in the Karaoke Dokie parking lot. They all go inside and Sikowitz, Jade and Cat already wait for them.  
Jade stands up as they arrive and while they all greet each other, Jade and Beck share a short kiss as Jade takes little Benji out of Beck’s arm into hers. The boy also happily squeals: “Mommy.”  
And while everyone sits down and starts talking – Andre and Robbie especially to Sikowitz to know about why he came here – Tori hears Beck saying to Jade: “You could’ve told me beforehand.”  
Jade smirks. “As if you would’ve gone there if you would’ve known.”  
Beck smiles as well. “Now, I get why you let me leave without complaints in the morning.” Tori can guess that she is the reason Jade would usually complain. She can’t imagine Jade liking Beck telling her in the morning he will visit Tori to cheer her up after a assumingly horrible night with Trina.  
“You’re really easy to trick,” Jade notices casually, kisses him again before she looks down to Benji who sits on her lap and still hugs her close while she strokes his hair: “I hope you’ll be smarter some day, Benji.”  
And she may sound serious but even for Tori it sounds more playful than anything else and she can understand Beck’s smile getting even brighter and him touching Benji’s back: “You’ll probably be like your mommy. And I’ll never have a calm day again in my life. As if I have now.”  
Jade smirks and they look into each other’s eyes for a moment before they share another kiss.  
Tori turns back to the others with a smile of her own and that’s also the moment Sikowitz gets up for his performance.  
They all have a great evening and Tori is fascinated how this weekend turned out well for her after all.  
Jade and Beck leave first with Benji when he starts getting tired. The others also don’t stay all that much longer though. And when Tori is back she makes the awful girls stay for another hour before Trina herself is too exhausted anyway (and her medication is either finally strong enough or there is no pain anymore anyway).

 

Apparently, Sikowitz has made some smart decisions about who could do which job for his next play. Not only that they all get to experience more and more in the world of theater, Jade and Beck have gotten jobs that allow them each to go home early one time. They have two afternoons where they prepare for the play next to study hall, break and Sikowitz’s lessons before the night of the play which afternoon they of course also have to spend in school.  
The first afternoon though, Beck is able to go home early (and does) and of course that’s because of Benji. The second afternoon, the power blower arrives and Jade leaves right before Beck starts explaining the massive machine to Tori. They shortly kiss goodbye, then Jade is gone.  
Everyone else keeps working and while Cat, Robbie and Andre have to go home afterwards, Beck asks Tori with a shrug if they still want to got eat something together.  
“Sure. If you don’t have to go home,” Tori answers. She doesn’t think Jade would be happy to be home with their son while Beck is eating out with Tori somewhere.  
Beck understands right, knows the question is about girlfriend and son and answers with a smile: “Jade is visiting her grandparents today, with Benji. We thought today would be good for that as we couldn’t spend the afternoon together anyway and her grandparents don’t like me very much.”  
“Why don’t they like you?” Tori asks confused while they make their way out of school together, Tori definitely ready to eat somewhere together and continue to talk.  
“I impregnated their teenage granddaughter,” Beck simply answers and... well... that’s a reason. He smiles: “Our parents are over it, our grandparents still have a little trouble with that. Mine as well.”  
“Benji already is one and a half years old,” Tori says confused because of course it’s a good reason but obviously, Beck and Jade do well and their grandparents had time to notice that.  
Beck nods: “I know. Still.”  
They get into his car and agree on a place to eat but Tori’s mind still is on this business. She’s curious as always and decides that she will ask about their parents’ reaction later (if they are over it... obviously they are taking great care of the situation but what has been their first reaction then?). For now she’s more curious about the grandparents.  
“How can both your grandparents still have trouble with the situation? They see how well you’re doing with Benji.”  
“It’s tough though. Nothing guarantees that it will keep working and that we haven’t ruined our futures after all,” Beck says reasonably as he pulls the car out of the parking lot on the street. “And our parents are doing a lot for that. As soon as one of them gets sick or something, it could quickly get pretty ugly. I mean... We manage but it’s not an easy situation.”  
Of course, it’s not. Still. And also with their parents... They themselves still do a big chunk of the work (naturally; they of course also are Benji’s parents) and the way they have worked together those two weeks Benji has been to school with them... and apparently also a few months before that where he has been with them constantly...  
“I think you can also manage on your own,” Tori says with a shrug.  
Beck smiles, almost indulgently. “You do know that our lives also cost a lot of money, right?”  
Well, okay. They don’t earn money themselves yet. And at least one of them would have to give up on school to work. But soon enough they’ll graduate and maybe, they would manage until then somehow. Though afterwards, they do want to go to college as far as Tori can gather from different talks.  
Beck also continues without being prompted, possibly noticing Tori’s thoughtful face: “We talked a lot with our parents about how to do it. They of course wanted to keep us in school while none of us was ready to leave Benji with strangers or something. We wanted to take care of him within the family for as long as it was possible. At the same time, Jade’s mother wasn’t able to give up her job as she’s the one earning money in her house. Her father sparsely pays child support for Jade.” – Which must mean that Jade’s parents aren’t together anymore which Tori didn’t know. – “One of my parents could’ve given up their jobs but we would’ve had to lower our living standard very much and they now also wanted to safe for me for college even more. And possibly save up for Jade for college as well if necessary and for Benji, so... We were allowed to take him to school which worked though our parents still were there so much. It’s also not like we do much house work or anything. They still take care of us and pay for both of us having cars and stuff. Which is amazing, you know. Of course, we had to think of another solution when Benji got more difficult to keep quiet in school. Again, both my parents thought about giving up their own jobs but luckily, Jade’s mother was able to transfer. But at this point, we’re pretty much taking it as an one day at a time approach. Especially Jade’s mom has a tough schedule and the deal is that if it stresses her too much – or if anyone feels too stressed with this, really –, we will all have to sit back together and talk about another solution. We couldn’t do it at all without Jade’s mom or without my parents because they also are a great help and always there when we need them. Either because we want to go out again or because we just don’t know what to do about an issue with Benji.”  
“So, they really are all very involved,” Tori notices. She hasn’t gotten that impression over the break but of course they have been the ones to primarily take care of Benji then while otherwise with school etc, of course other people had to come in. And she never has thought about the financial part in all of this.  
Beck nods as he pulls into the parking lot of the place where they want to eat. “They are. They are amazing.”  
Tori has to smile as they both get out of the car.  
They talk about other things over lunch though Beck texts Jade in between. Tori isn’t angry about that at all.


	7. The Diddly-Bops and Wok Star

So, they’ve done the play but Tori hasn’t seen any of it as she has been in the hospital, planning Rex’ death and immediate revival. It’s the week after that that Sikowitz suddenly calls their group of friends back after class and asks them to do a song for his friend’s son’s party. As they will get enough money for it, they of course agree in the end though noone is really excited for it.  
They sit together in Tori’s parents’ house that afternoon. Jade and Beck of course have caught Benji after school and have brought him with them. While Andre quickly takes his place at the piano and tries a few notes, Robbie sits down on the couch with a guitar, trying some on his own, Cat and Beck also sit down on the couch and Jade on the floor, leaning against the couch.  
Benji stays with Cat at first while everyone spouts some ideas and Robbie and Andre thoughtfully play a few things on their instruments.  
Tori gets some new drinks for herself and Andre at one point when she ask the boy: “What we got so far?”  
And as she has expected, Andre has got a song ready on his mind. He sings about how everybody has a nose. It’s sounds sweet and she could imagine kids going for that. Jade however harshly cuts in: “My grandfather’s nose was blown off in the war, so that song is a filthy lie.”  
Tori doesn’t know if that’s true or Jade just wanted to say something mean but Andre says anyway: “Well, I’m sorry. I’m a serious musician. I don’t know how to write a little kiddie’s song.”  
“Why did we say we do this?” Beck asks and Cat answers with a bright smile: “It’ll be fun.”  
Benji babbles something at the same time where one word sounds a lot like “mommy”. Cat lets him down from her lap to the floor where he toddles to his mother who in that moment speaks anyway, sarcastically: “Yeah, it’s so fun to put on humiliating costumes and dance around like idiots for sticky little three-year-olds.”  
Benji has arrived with her and Tori only now notices that Jade not only has flowers in her hands but also scissors, and that she cuts up those flowers. Great. And now, she puts the flowers down for a second which Benji wanted to get his hands in apparently, grabs his hands with one of hers and tells the little boy: “Baby, go to Daddy. Scissors are not for you.”  
The boy obeys, turns to Beck, says “daddy” himself and Beck pulls him up into his lap while Jade gets back to cutting up the flowers and Tori first needs to correct Jade: “They are four-year-olds.” And then: “And my mom grew those flowers in her garden.”  
Jade can’t just cut them up like this.  
Jade looks at her though and coldly says: “They are lovely.” And promptly, she wildly cuts them up.  
Tori even feels offended but before she can say anything else, Robbie suddenly pipes up: “Okay, so what do you guys think about this song?”  
He starts singing a song that sounds fun at first but it gets into breaking glas being fun and that’s just weird, so Tori decides as she sits down next to Beck on the couch: “We’re not doing that.”  
“Well, we have to write a song about something,” Cat says and of course thet’s true.  
Beck rubs Benji’s belly as he says: “Okay, let’s think: What do four-year-old little kids like?”  
And this is just stupid. There is a child right with them. Especially Beck and Jade have to know what kind of songs Benji would love. So she asks: “What does Benji like?”  
Jade instantly answers, throwing a glare over her shoulder: “Benji isn’t four yet and he’s also ten times smarter than the average four-year-old or... you know... any of you guys.”  
Beck grins as he drops a kiss on his son’s head and Cat also smiles brightly, saying: “He so is, isn’t he?”  
“Point proven,” Jade dryly adds because possibly, Cat hasn’t really understood that Jade has just insulted all of them a little.  
Well, then... “Okay,” Tori says. “But what do four-year-old kids like then?”  
Before anyone can answer, Andre’s phone rings. He excuses himself and Tori sees her laptop in the same moment and obviously she can look up in the internet what your average successful kids’ song is about.  
Cat suggests that kids like cartoons when Tori has already found something: Apparently, the most liked kids’ songs have all been about food. She says that and promptly, Robbie starts singing again about broken glas which you shouldn’t eat.  
“What is wrong with you?” Tori cuts through though Jade has turned around, saying: “I like it. And see: Benji liked it too.”  
It’s true that Benji has watched Robbie happily. Maybe, he has inherited his mother’s creepy taste.  
Beck states amused though: “Benji loves all kind of music.”  
That also makes sense. And Jade is just putting the flowers away that don’t look good at all anymore when Andre calls Tori over to the kitchen.  
She hands the laptop to Beck who quickly lets Benji on the floor again. Benji walks to Jade who pulls him between her legs, hugging him with Benji of course hugging back, standing between her legs, and Cat seems extremely happy about that and also walks over to them while Tori goes to Andre.  
Andre tells Tori about the possibilty for a record deal for him which is amazing. Though Andre still has to write a song for that too and of course, Robbie has listened and promptly sings about broken glas again.  
They quickly go back to the others. Cat now truly sits on the ground with Jade and talks to Benji who still stands in his mother’s arms while Beck is on the internet.  
Tori also tells Andre about the food songs and Andre starts thinking about that, sitting down on the piano again. Everyone else sort of just waits. Tori keeps standing at the piano while Robbie still constantly hums his awful song. Jade makes Benji go over to Cat after a while, who talks to the little boy anyway, and stands up herself to sit down next to Beck and lean into his arm after he has put Tori’s laptop back on the table.  
It doesn’t take long until Andre says: “Okay. Listen to this.”  
He sings and plays a chorus which sounds fun and nice and everyone agrees that they should do that song. Andre keeps working on it while the others start thinking about where to get fitting costumes and they order pizza to the house with Jade and Beck cutting up bits and pieces to give to Benji.  
Afterwards, Andre gets back on the piano and plays the whole song for them and Tori loves it. It’s a good song for kids. Everyone else also agrees but they finish up for that day. Andre wants to work on it over night, wants to think about in which parts to split it, which harmonies to have. They want to sing it together during break tomorrow in school.

That’s what they do. They also organize the costumes and it’s already that afternoon that the birthday party takes place.  
They meet up in time in the dressing rooms of the Black Box Theater. Benji is actually with Jade and Beck again, sitting in Jade’s arms, who look at the costumes horrified. They just try to choose which fits whom best.  
Benji grabs for the costumes excitedly as Jade shakes her head. “We should’ve left Benji with your parents,” she says to Beck. “This is embarrassing.” Though Benji probably won’t remember it in a year. But Tori also isn’t excited to get dressed in these costumes and show herself to anyone. Jade must hate the thought that her son will see her like that.  
Beck puts his arm around her. “I’m more than lucky I talked them out of coming here themselves.”  
“Why would they come to a child’s birthday party?” Tori asks confused.  
Beck shrugs. “With someone always having to take care of Benji whom we usually don’t want in the audience in danger of him starting to cry, and them also working, they don’t get much chance to see me perform. Ever. But it’s good that they also won’t see this desaster.”  
Everyone except Cat isn’t convinced of this but they have promised and they will get payed, so...  
The guys and girls want to split into different changing rooms when Tori decides that one of them still should talk to Sikowitz before their performance. They haven’t seen him at all until now and they should shortly make sure everything will go according to plan. Of course, they decide she should go do that while they already change. And Jade hands her Benji. “Go get him to Sikowitz while you’re at it.”  
Tori knows that Jade and Beck have agreed with Sikowitz that he would take care of him during the performance. Obviously, even if Benji starts making noises here, it won’t really attract much attention. It is a child’s birthday party after all.  
Sikowitz directly takes him with a smile, even puts down his coconut for it. They shortly talk until Tori gets called back by Cat because of Jade’s boobs.  
They do their perfomance and all the kids love it.  
The thing is the one of them also films it and puts it on the net and they hate it. Nobody as much as Andre though who has possibly lost his record deal because of it. But Tori tells him to do something about it and Andre actually rewrites the lyrics to Favorite Foods and makes a wonderful song out of it.  
After they’ve done that performance and Andre has talked to the producer and his boss again and is exhilarated, Beck tells Andre with Tori and Jade standing with them: “You have to give us the lyrics for that song. Since Favorite Foods, Benji can actually say ‘food’ and never wants to eat something saying that but wants to hear that song again. Which we don’t sing or play for him. We try to distract him with other songs but that doesn’t make him happy. Maybe, he’s also fine if the melody stays and we can at least change the lyrics.”  
Andre grins. “Yeah, sure.”  
“Otherwise, you will have to adopt him and have to sing Favorite Foods for him for the rest of his life because you brought that stupid song into the world,” Jade dryly states before she pulls Beck with her to leave.

 

As soon as that’s over, of course another things come up. Jade has written a script which the school has denied her to put on there because they think it’s weird and disturbing. Tori doesn’t know about that. As far as she can see the school has allowed much weirder plays already – not to mention that one by Sinjin and his friends not too long ago about some camping trip gone wrong.  
But well... She just knows about it because she says Jade hi in the morning and she looks at her as if she would attack her just for that before she suddenly stomps off. Beck quickly tells Tori what’s going on before he follows Jade.  
It’s right before lunch that Tori tells Cat and Andre about the great Chinese place she has found and which she thinks they should go to when Beck runs into them in search of Jade. Robbie runs up to them with Rex and says they have found her in the janitor’s closet.  
They all go there. Beck is the first who dares to go in after they now all know she’s in a bad mood. She truly is cutting up a big trash can with just a little pairs of scissors.  
But... They don’t need the school to put on plays, do they? It must be possible for Jade to produce it on her own. Tori suggests that and of course Jade wants to misunderstand her and suddenly Tori finds herself as the person who’s supposed to somehow come up with 3000 bucks to produce Jade’s play. Great.  
She goes to the Chinese place with Robbie, Rex and Andre while Cat and Beck decide to keep close to Jade (who has vanished again though after their talk). They of course also still talk about the play. First about what they think of the plot with the little they know about that, then shortly about the money she would need with Andre and Robbie explaining to Tori for what you would need so much money. Tori has never thought much about the plays in school and all the costs involved. Apparently, there are also lessons about that kind of stuff at Hollywood Arts but rather early in the run.  
After a while, Robbie says: “It’s bad that Jade’s Mom probably could afford that play if Benji wasn’t born.”  
Well, Tori hasn’t thought about that. But she can also imagine that Jade’s mother could have, is she now paying as much for Benji’s life as Beck’s parents which must easily sum up to much more money.  
Andre reasons though: “On the other hand... Would she give her the money if she could? I mean... Whose parents would give them 3000 bucks just like that for one of many plays?”  
That’s true. Tori sighs as she takes the next bite from her food.  
They shortly get distracted by their fortune cookies before Tori has to get back to the topic though because she’s sure Jade does expect her to find someone to pay for the whole thing. And her mind just keeps on the topic, so that she even mentions it in front of the nice lady running the place. And she does want to give her the money. Tori can’t believe her luck.

She talks to her the whole afternoon and evening and tells Jade all about it the next morning in school. Jade doesn’t react nearly as excited as Tori has hoped but Jade also probably never would jump up and down in happiness. She does smile though and is definitely interested.  
Tori tells her they can meet up in the afternoon, with Mrs. Lee, in the theater the woman is more than willing to pay for and Jade agrees.  
Tori waits in front of the theater at the agreed time and it’s not just Jade who comes but also Beck and Benji. Beck carries the young boy who waves as he sees Tori and actually says a “hello” which she returns with a bright smile. Then, she leads the three of them inside and excitedly shows them the theater.  
Beck nods acknowledging: “Wow. This is a nice little theater.”  
Jade seems sceptical: “And this reastaurant lady, who you barely know, is really gonna pay for this place?”  
Tori confirms that which has to make Jade happy, so while Beck sits down on one of the chairs with Benji, she asks Jade: “Huh? Love me? Love me now? Yeah, you do. Come on, give Tori a squeeze.” She just wants Jade to admit once that she likes her, that she is thankful.  
Of course, Jade doesn’t admit that but Tori knows anyway that she’s happy. She already plans whom to ask to do what, when Mrs. Lee comes in.  
“Hey. Look, it’s Tori Vega with the beautiful cheekbones,” she directly says and Tori has to smile: "Hey, you. Jade, this is Mrs. Lee from Wok Star.”  
Jade even smiles as well and instantly is really polite which surprises Tori: “Oh, it’s really cool to meet you.”  
“Is this our playwright?” Mrs. Lee asks and Tori nods: “That’s her.”  
Jade says: “I’m Jade. This is my boyfriend, Beck, and our son, Benjamin.”  
“I am the boyfriend,” Beck confirms with a smirk while the little boy of course also recognizes his name and squeals.  
Tori sees Mrs. Lee pausing for a second. Of course, Tori hasn’t told her that Jade has a son – why should she have? – and it surely does make her wonder a bit but Jade directly continues: “And listen, I can’t even like tell you how amazing it is that you’re paying for all of this.”  
“Don’t even mention that,” Mrs. Lee says. “I’m just happy you get to do your play.”  
But then, Mrs. Lee tells her she already read the play and loved it but that she has a few notes. Oh, gosh. Of course, Jade doesn’t like that.  
“You wanna change my play?” Jade asks dangerously and Beck stands up.  
Benji has also tilted his head and looks at his mother curiously, has obviously noticed the change in her mood.  
“I think I have to go. I’ll take Benji with me. Say bye-bye to Mommy.”  
“Bye-bye, Mommy,” Benji does say, waving, and Jade shortly glances at him and gives back a small “bye” because she doesn’t want to disappoint her son by ignoring him. As soon as Benji and Beck are gone, she glares back to Mrs. Lee though.  
And Mrs. Lee smiles: “He’s so handome. Like a pretty pony. And that sweet boy...”  
Tori isn’t sure if she wants to say more or not but Jade cuts in anyway: “What changes do you wanna make to my play?”  
Tori has to remind Jade that this is how showbusiness works and Mrs. Lee doesn’t even seem insistent when Jade approaches her willingly to make changes – until Mrs. Lee’s daughter Daisy comes in. Tori knows this will all go horribly wrong.

They get into preparations for the play and it’s the first time that they have a whole run-through. Tori sits next to Jade, as does Beck on her other side, with Benji on his lap.  
They get to the big changes by Mrs. Lee, with Daisy coming flying and singing as the main character’s angel when she gets interrupted by Benji suddenly crying with all his heart.  
Everyone goes silent as Beck starts rocking him and whispering to him: “Hey, sh. Everything’s okay, Benji. What is it?”  
“Mommy!” he wails and Tori notices that Benji is watching his mother, while he cries, who still stares in the direction of the stage. Okay, Benji clearly knows how angry and horrified Jade is and doesn’t like it at all.  
“Hey, baby,” Beck says. “It’s fine. Your mommy is fine. How about we go somewhere else? Jade?”  
It sounds as if he wants to check with Jade if he should and could leave with their son. After all, he has wanted to support her and has wanted to keep Benji close to her for them to spend time with each other.  
Jade takes a deep breath as she slowly turns to look at Benji who still cries. She drops a kiss on his head as she says: “Go have some fun with your daddy somewhere. We’ll see each other later.”  
Beck stands up and gives Jade a kiss on her cheek after she doesn’t turn for a kiss with him, then he leaves with Benji.  
Cat looks after them with a pout as if it makes her sad to see Benji like that (it is sad to see him cry like that), only then she asks what all the singing is about.

The next day in school, Tori hears Jade sending Sinjin running though he only wants to help her, and she has to say something. Of course, this sucks, but the play is still in good parts her own and it’s another kind of experience.  
But there’s a reason that Jade is this moody about it and after Tori probes a little, Jade pulls her into the janitor’s closet and tells her about having invited her father to the play and him apparently hating her because he doesn’t respect creative people.  
Tori has to think about that the rest of the day. There’s only a very short rehearsal right after school, then they all go home. Their group of friends has decided in school already that they would meet up later that afternoon to play some cards at Tori’s. Neither Jade nor Beck show up at first though.  
The others are already seated around the table and all have drinks and snacks when the bell rings again and Tori calls that they can come in.  
It’s Beck with Benji and the typical bag with them. “Hey, everyone,” he says as he throws the bag on the couch, sits down on one of the free chairs for which everyone else also makes a little more room, and puts Benji on the floor who walks over to Andre.  
“Where’s Jade?” Cat asks.  
Beck shakes his head. “She didn’t feel like coming.”  
“So, she’s still upset?” Tori asks.  
“Well, naturally, she is,” Beck answers.  
Andre has pulled Benji on his lap and asks: “How come you could bring the little one then? Usually, she likes him close if she isn’t feeling well, doesn’t she?”  
“Yeah, but just now, she wants to be alone, so I thought I’d come here with him,” Beck says. Which also explains why he hasn’t stayed with Jade.  
Cat beams: “That’s great. He can play cards with us.”  
The others smile. Obviously, he’s still too small for that. But that probably won’t discourage all of them to act like Benji totally could help them.  
Robbie takes this as the starting signal and starts deal the cards he has shuffled before.  
They get started when Tori says: “I talked to Jade in school. I didn’t know this was about her father.”  
Andre just lets Benji down again as he obviously wants to walk around some more, and looks to Beck with raised eyebrows: “It is?”  
“Yeah, she invited him, right when she knew it was happening at all, before we even saw the theater or met Mrs. Lee,” Beck answers and the others react with sympathetic noises.  
Okay, they seem to know Jade’s father and probably know more about this. Tori has to ask: “What’s with her father? Who is he?”  
Everyone looks to Beck again as if they wouldn’t dare talk about it, as if they wouldn’t know what Jade would accept Tori to know.  
Beck slowly answers: “Well... He and Jade’s mom divorced when she was very young and Jade and he never had a good relationship. He never took much care of her, you know? And... Yeah. If you will ever meet him, you will understand. I still can’t believe he not only was married to Jade’s mom once but also found himself another wife after that. But whatever...”  
They all take more cards before Beck continues: “When she decided she wanted to go to Hollywood Arts, their relationship got even worse. He doesn’t like art at all and doesn’t understand why Jade wants to get into it. And then she got into Hollywood Arts and of course got pregnant.”  
Benji is with him at that point again and Beck thoughtfully runs his fingers through his hair.  
“I told you our parents are over it. I’m not sure he is but I also never really consider him. Well... Jade and I work hard to have good grades despite having a child and she does amazing but he still can’t value any of it. I think if she could show him one of her plays she wrote and directed while getting amazing grades and taking care of our son... that would really show him. Maybe, that would make him know that she still has a bright future. But she thinks he will think even worse of her with the desaster the play will now be.”  
“I’m so sorry,” Tori can’t help to say.  
Jade’s father sounds harsh.  
“It’s not your fault,” Beck says though.  
Andre nods: “It isn’t. Did Jade say it was?”  
“A little,” she confesses. “She told me about her father being invited and what he thinks of creative people and... yeah...”  
“And then?”  
“She thanked me for ruining her life,” Tori says.  
Andre shrugs. “At least she thanked you.” Well, sure, you can see it that way.  
They shortly also talk about Trina while Cat pulls Benji up her lap as the boy meanwhile has approached her and apparently wants to look up the table again where they are playing at. “Wait,” she suddenly says then. “Jade’s dad’s only coming to the play on the first night, right?” (Which means that Jade must have talked to Cat about this already anyway as Tori has never mentioned Jade’s father coming to the opening night.)  
And then, Cat actually utters a brilliant idea. Yes, they can try to do it the way Jade wants it for just that one night for which Jade’s father will come. They work out a great play.

Jade of course knows about the plan but seems extremely anxious right before the play is about to start for the first time – and the only time the way she has written it. But everything goes well and as planned.  
It’s when Andre has texted her that Mrs. Lee has left the restaurant that the play is right in its last scene anyway and everyone applauds as the lights go out.  
Tori of course waits next to Jade for her father’s judgement. He looks extremely cold and judgemental and Tori doesn’t know if he can like anything, if it really makes a difference that now everything was done the way Jade wanted it instead of the way Mrs. Lee wanted it. Except that this way, her father can hate Jade for what she did herself which she may prefer.  
But actually he does say he thought the play was excellent. Tori can barely believe it.  
She’s sure to see Jade surpressing a smile as she says with a casual voice: “Thanks. Anything else?”  
Mr. West narrows his eyes. “Where’s your son?”  
“With his father,” Jade answers truthfully and Mr. West nods before suddenly: “Would you please take that jewelry out of your face?”  
“No,” she answers and that’s apparently that. They tell each other bye and Mr. West leaves.  
Tori turns to Jade, a little unsure: “Well, get what you wanted?”  
Jade makes an agreeing noise, then: “I’ve never seen him look that happy before. And he barely ever asks about Benji.”  
Well, Tori also wouldn’t call this “asking about Benji”. For her it has sounded more controlling, not like he was worried about the boy’s well-being or anything. Though possibly, this was her father’s way of asking if Benji is well and her answer that he’s with Beck is her saying he is.  
She takes it in any case. “Come on. Give Tori a squeeze.”  
And Jade does.  
Only shortly after, Mrs. Lee comes in and they lie to her but of course, Daisy is still up there and knows that she hasn’t been in the show tonight. While Mrs. Lee still gets her down, calling them bad names during it, Beck comes in with Benji in his arms.  
“And?” he directly asks with a smile.  
Jade doesn’t answer, just walks up to him, and pulls him into a close kiss, before she takes Benji out of his arms.  
“Mommy,” the boy squeals happily and there is a bright smile on her face as she answers: “Hey, baby. Had a fun evening? I had too.”  
And she turns back to Beck and they share another slow kiss.


	8. The Wood, Dale Squires, Sleepover, Begging

October comes and by now, all college applications are sent out. They shortly talk about it again, check to how many of the same colleges they have applied. Tori gets to know that Beck and Jade have applied to the exact same colleges and plan to also attend one they will both get accepted to.  
“We want to finally move in together,” Beck says. “And Benji already is two and half years old then and can go to preschool. Until we find a place for him, we will hopefully manage, even if we’re not close to our parents anymore.”  
Another exciting thing is happening in their school: A new reality show named The Wood will film at Hollywood Arts and still searches for students to showcase. Of course, they all audition.  
Afterwards, Jade, Beck, Andre and Tori sit together for lunch and still talk about the auditions and their chances when Tori finally asks: “Why didn’t you tell them you have Benji?”  
She has been in the room while both Beck and Jade have auditioned and that one woman has asked if Beck was dating anyone which he has confirmed. That would have been an easy moment to say he even has a child with someone. She would’ve bet Jade to cut in and say he’s also the father of her child to make sure that woman understands their close connection. But not one of them did.  
“Why should we have?” Jade asks with raised eyebrows.  
Well... “That could’ve given you more of a chance to get into the show,” she reasons because she can imagine that very well. A teenage couple with a child? That’s something the camera loves, she guesses.  
“Exactly,” Jade says darkly though and Beck shrugs, putting his arm around Jade: “Well, or it could’ve kicked us out. But yeah, no. We don’t want to get anything like a role because of him. And we don’t want him on TV like that. Him being an extra in a movie with other people... sure. But we could imagine... you know, if they would take us because of him, that they would want to make a story out of it, so...”  
Okay, Tori can understand that. It’s curious how Jade suddenly isn’t about to use Benji. Apparently, she only wants to do that if it’s about... helping her friends out or something like that. Not about her... career.  
But it’s funny how they apparently both agree on that, also on not wanting Benji on TV like that. She wonders if they have talked about it before or if it’s just something they both feel like.  
It’s pretty much only three minutes after that that the producers of The Wood come over with Lane and tell them that all of them get to be in the show.  
She does hear Jade and Beck talk later, after they have been informed that they would probably also like to film some stuff at each their homes, that they would have to make sure Benji would always be with the other one. And how they would see how far to let the camera crews in, how Beck would only take him within his parents’ house and could show them his room there and how Jade would keep them within the living room and claim she has a toddler as a sibling which is why they have to many toys lying around.  
Well, they are serious about keeping Benji out of it then. But Tori is the first to have them film at her home anyway, followed by Andre only the next day.

Tori doesn’t know if they ever have filmed at Jade’s or Beck’s place when they already have a first preview of the first episode of The Wood ready for them to watch.  
They meet up at Tori’s house to watch it together. Of course, Benji is with Beck and Jade again.  
Tori gets Beck the lemonade he asks for while he sits on the couch, Benji on his lap (whom he promptly lets take a sip) and they shortly talk about the color of it when Trina come in.  
Trina doesn’t want to watch the show with them which Tori feels slightly offended by but she’s also used to it by her sister.  
“Let’s view this,” Andre decides.  
Tori furrows her eyebrows. “Where’s Jade?”  
She’s pretty sure that Jade has come in with Beck and Benji but she’s nowhere to be seen now.  
“Upstairs,” Beck says casually and Jade comes down the stairs at the same time: “I was upstairs.”  
Apparently, she has been in her room, for whatever reason. Tori thinks it’s creepy but Jade doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, instead says they should get to watching it as she sits down next to Beck. Beck puts his arm, with which he doesn’t hold Benji on his lap, around Jade, having his glas put down on the table.  
Tori wants to sit next down to Jade but of course she pushes her off before she leans further into Beck’s arm and also puts one of her arms around Benji on Beck’s lap.  
Well, okay. Tori sits down on the other couch next to Andre instead and they finally turn on the TV.  
While they are all shown, it’s said that Hollywood Arts is full of drama, on and off stage, and Tori’s a little amused and asks herself what they will show for that.  
Of course, Beck and Jade are promptly shown kissing while the voice says: “Beck and Jade have been dating for three years.”  
“Ugh. Yeah, shoot me from that angle,” Jade says grumpily and Beck is quick to say: “You look great.”  
“Great,” Benji repeats looking brightly up to his mother. Tori wonders if he understands.  
Jade strokes through his hair with her hand as she shoots him a small smile, claiming: “I know.”  
The TV shows Beck and Jade bickering by now (of course they have caught them at that; they do bicker often enough though usually they also make up within a minute or less).  
“But is Beck getting tired of the same old thing?” the voiceover asks and Tori can understand Jade’s dark look at that.  
And suddenly, Beck and she, Tori, are shown talking to each other on the phone. Though they haven’t done that. Tori has said all those things to her aunt and her puppy. Who knows who Beck has talked to.  
Jade glares at her before the fake conversation is even over and suddenly, she jumps up and darts at her. Tori screams as she jumps up herself and tries to flee but then, Jade has already grabbed her, in the middle of the living room and they fight as Tori is trying to get free.  
Tori hears Beck call out for Jade while Andre tries to pull them apart.  
Finally, Beck puts Benji down on the couch to also help. Benji starts crying as Tori is still afraid for her life and now, Beck also gets into it. And at one point Andre can grab Jade, pulls her away from Tori and throws her over in Beck’s arms who instantly holds her to keep her from attacking Tori again.  
“That phone call never happened,” he meanwhile calls out over Benji still crying, doing his best to get off the couch and run up to his parents.  
“I saw it!” Jade says as she turns out of Beck’s arms and pulls Benji up to start rocking him, nonetheless telling the little boy: “Your father is an ass.”  
“Come on, Jade,” Beck says and Tori also makes sure Jade knows: “I was talking to a puppy.”  
“I was ordering a pizza,” Beck says. Tori doesn’t get what about that Jade apparently wouldn’t like (she does remember Beck saying his girlfriend wouldn’t like that) but whatever. She also doesn’t care much as long as Jade won’t kill her.  
Benji is still crying, has maybe been shocked at the sudden outburst, and his mother is still angry while his father is at least irritated.  
Jade talks over him again: “How does she know you like getting your tummy tickled?”  
“Everybody likes having their tummy tickled,” Tori defends herself though she was talking to a puppy anyway. Jade has to know that Beck and she haven’t talked on the phone like that.  
“It’s true,” Andre says who has taken a few steps away by now. “Sometimes, I do it to myself.”  
That’s weird but noone comments, instead Beck turns to Jade again: “The producers took two sperate phone conversations and cut them together.”  
Jade glares at him with pursed lips for a second, then: “I want to hear that from them.”  
“You will,” Beck promises. “First thing tomorrow.”  
Jade has started rubbing Benji’s belly which does make the boy finally calm down a little again. And she promptly turns away with him and walks to the door: “I’ll go home with my son.”  
Now, it’s only her son again.  
Tori is sure Beck has also noticed that. He closes his eyes for a moment before he says: “I’ll drive you.”  
He follows her and she huffs. “Whatever. Don’t think of talking to me or touching me though.”  
“I won’t.”  
And with that they are gone without a word of good-bye. Tori and Andre share an awkward glance.

The producers luckily directly admit that they cut those phone conversations together. Apparently, that’s what reality TV is all about which doesn’t make much sense but Tori also won’t argue. They are actors and they can also act this out. It’s still experience they gain and they can put it in their resume.  
The four of them have the same class together for their first lesson and walk there together.  
“Maybe, we should get out of it,” Beck thoughtfully says whíle they do that.  
Tori sees he’s talking to Jade who returns his look just as thoughtful but Tori doesn’t understand: “Why? We now know what it’s about.” Jade will know that whatever she sees in that show won’t be true.  
Beck answers though: “Well, if they cut some more stuff like that... I don’t like it, thinking about Benji.”  
Okay, Tori can’t imagine how she would feel about this whole business with having a child. He could also watch it one day and may think of it as all true as it’s a reality show. Just like other people can deem it as true and that also doesn’t sit right with Tori but she’s getting paid and all the important people in her private life and her career will know that the show is acted. She doesn’t know if she would feel differently about it if she would have a kid herself who’s somehow automatically involved as well in everything she would do.  
Jade also shrugs, still looking at Beck, then she decides: “We just will stop bickering in school and stop with stupid phone calls and give them some other stuff to shoot that will keep them away from our relationship.”  
Beck smiles and they share a kiss. “Okay.”  
They actually do that very successfully – though Jade’s idea then gets The Wood thrown out of their school. But Tori assumes that that’s actually for the best after all.

 

And it’s still not like there aren’t any other things going on in their school. The next day, Dale Squires comes to one of their classes. And he wants to do a short film with them and their teacher suggests Beck’s script which is amazing.  
Tori offers her parents’ house to shoot it (which her parents agree with) and so, everyone meets up there in the late afternoons over the next few days. Benji again comes with Beck and Jade every day and somehow, it works. There is always at least one of their friends who has time to take care of him and go out with him when he feels grumpy. Or to keep him from doing anything dangerous while Jade warns everyone else to not talk to or touch her son which their classmates know to listen to and the crew also seems to be okay with.  
Of course, they are always at it until late evening and they haven’t necessairly planned that. The first day, Dale comes really late and Beck calls his parents to pick Benji up before he even comes, as Benji starts growing tired.  
Over the next days, one of Beck’s parents always come at that time to get Benji.

 

After that whole Dale Squires business, it finally gets a little calmer again.  
It’s then that Sikowitz challenges them to a method acting exercise for which they are supposed to stay over night at Sikowitz’ – except they get eliminated in which case they would have to leave instantly.  
Of course, they accept that challenge and Sikowitz makes them give each other characters.  
They meet up during one break to tell each other what they have thought of. Tori wonders if Andre has ever said something weird about Jade’s pregnant belly when she asks Andre to play a pregnant guy.  
But she doesn’t get around to ask because then Sikowitz already raises his voice again: “Okay, very well. I would suggest you come to my place at 7pm. You don’t need to bring anything except your wonderful new characters. I furthermore suggest that, if Beck and Jade want it, the nice farm girl could have a son named Benji, which the English guy of course also don’t grant any personal space. I naturally would make sure, he could sleep somewhere.”  
The others agree. Tori thinks it would even be funny to have Benji there. He’s still so adorable.  
“Will you take him with you?” Cat directly asks excitedly.  
Jade and Beck share a look and Jade shrugs: “We’ll think about it. You’ll see. Are we done now?”  
“You are free to go,” Sikowitz says with a nod and all of them leave. And Jade and Beck directly start talking about what to do with Benji.  
“It will last the whole night,” Jade says thoughtfully as she intertwines her fingers with Beck’s. “But of course he could sleep there and we would at least have him close.” And it’s also just their friends and Sikowitz who Benji feels easy about. Tori knows that’s always a big factor for them to know where to take him.  
Beck nods. “We could have him take an extra long nap right before the party, so we would have time to prepare for the party without interruptions.”  
“Which would mean he also would stay up with us longer and with a little bit of luck, he would sleep in then and also allow us a little bit of sleep,” Jade continues that thought.  
Beck smiles. “And it would be a fun extra challenge to have him around.”  
Jade also smiles and they share a kiss and Tori is sure it’s pretty much decided.  
Cat claps her hand: “It would be so fun to also have him there. Would my character be allowed to talk to him?”  
Beck and Andre start debating that question amused while Robbie and Tori already have to leave their friends for their next class.

Jade and Beck do bring Benji. They are the last to come and Beck directly walks into the room with Sikowitz, way too close to him, while Jade comes inside with a pretend happy smile, Benji in her arms, and his bag with her again. Sometimes, Tori thinks the bag has to get lighter over time and it’s true that there’s for example never any baby food in it anymore. But instead, they always carry other snacks, just in case, and of course still need diapers and everything else they need for changing, have some crucial toys for Benji and most of the time also still his favorite blanket.  
Jade directly puts the bag in the corner of the room before she closes the door.  
Tori has to approach her and first has to look Benji up and down. They also have dressed him like a little farm boy with an adorable overall and everything, so he fits with Jade.  
But well... Tori wants to experience Jade in this great role, want to see how nice Jade can be if she has to be.  
Jade does very well, even when Tori stuffs her mouth with Raisin’ Bran. She doesn’t even tense too much – at least, Benji doesn’t feel anything and doesn’t look at his mother worried. Instead, he seems positively excited to see not only his parents dress so differently but also everyone else.  
After that, Jade lets Benji run freely inside of the apartment and it does work easily and is actually fun to also have to keep in role with him as he doesn’t really know what’s going on while they do know with each other.  
“Belly!” Benji screams out happily at one point when he has walked up to Andre who sits on one of the chairs, breathing heavily.  
“Yes. I’m pregnant,” Andre claims like he should. “And so exhausted.”  
Tori has to smirk. They do try to get each other out of their roles, to be the only one winning the challenge, so she says in her too loud voice: “That’s probably how your mother once looked.”  
Jade’s smile freezes as she slowly turns to Tori. But it doesn’t drop in the slightest, though Tori is sure she bites back bad words.  
Beck instantly is with Benji, puts his arms around him, invading his personal space as well, as he says in his accent: “No, your mother was probably so much more beautiful.” He puts a hand on Andre’s thigh that he pushes away. “Not that you aren’t beautiful.”  
“Yeah, thanks,” Andre says, still with his heavy breath. “Gosh. I don’t feel so good. Why did I run that stupid marathon?”  
Sikowitz of course also tries over time to get them out of character. He succeeds with his first serious attempt when he falls through the window and Robbie gets kicked out as he promptly reacts as himself. Though Tori is sure, if Robbie hasn’t instantly been with Sikowitz, one of the others, her included, would have gotten to Sikowitz instead and would’ve been out of character just as much.  
But now, Robbie has to leave. They are already there for almost two hours at that point and it’s not too long after that Jade first almost falls out of role as she threatens Beck after Tori shares her Raisin’ Bran with him. Then it’s Cat who has to leave after she has fallen out of role around Sikowitz’s nephew Jason.  
Benji behaves very well the whole time through. Obviously, he has taken a long nap and doesn’t seem tired now at all, even when it gets later still. At one point, he needs to be changed and Jade goes into the bathroom with him and the bag to do it. It takes a while and Tori bets she shortly talks in her normal voice to him during that but it’s fine. Otherwise, they do keep together and watch each other closely in hope of someone else making a mistake.  
And then, Andre’s grandmother comes. She has called one and a half hours earlier, and now she easily makes Andre react out of character. Tori knows that noone of them would’ve been able to keep their character with a grandmother like that in the room.  
The door is barely closed behind them and Beck moves from the door where he has stood with Jade to the couch to sit down next to Tori, when Jade suddenly yells: “Benjamin! No!”  
Tori turns around as Jade runs up to the kitchen and picks up Benji who has apparently walked up to the oven which must be hot as Sikowitz has put something in it to bake – and it looks like a rather old oven which still also heats up outside.  
Tori doesn’t know if Benji has actually achieved in touching it or if it has been the sudden harsh command from his mother, but he’s crying now.  
Jade does go to the sink with him and puts both his hands under water as she whispers to him: “Everything’s okay. It’s fine. Nothing happened.”  
“Jade? Should I call the ambulance?” Sikowitz asks with Benji still crying.  
“No,” Jade answers as she doesn’t even dry Benji’s hands but covers them with hers and then glares at Sikowitz and then at Tori and Beck: “But I guess I’m out. Whatever.”  
And she takes the bag and leaves before anyone else can say another word.  
Tori looks to Sikowitz uncertainly, then to Beck. Sikowitz swallows hard as he still looks after Jade. He probably wouldn’t have sent her away but that’s Jade. Of course, she sees this as loosing the challenge though she has just safed her child from getting burned. Tori would’ve been fine with her staying. Though she guesses, Jade also has been so shocked by Benji suddenly being hurt (or not – Tori is still not sure if he has ever touched the oven) that maybe she also doesn’t want to stay, wouldn’t be able to easily fall back into character.  
Beck also looks after Jade, listening to Benji’s crying growing more quiet as Jade quickly puts some distance between her and the house. Finally, he stands up and says in his normal accent: “Okay, I have to follow them. I can’t do this. Congrats, Tori, you won.”  
And he’s also out the door, quickly running after girlfriend and son.  
So, that has been that. Sikowitz turns to Tori after a while: “I think you did win. Though all of you did quite good.” And though the challenge initially has been different. It hasn’t been all of them against each other though they have totally taken it that way. They were just supposed to keep their roles until the next morning and could’ve all won then.  
But anyway... She stands up, also thinks it’s fine to go home then. But she has to say: “Well, that’s not a satisfying win.”  
Sikowitz replies: “Don’t sell yourself short. It could’ve also turned out this way without Benji. And one of the lesson I wanted to teach was anyway that sometimes it can be much easier to stay in role than other times, that there are a lot of factors for keeping in character, not to mention that it’s also important which character you’re supposed to play. Andre would’ve probably also still been here without his grandmother. Cat would’ve still been here without my nephew, though that was a quite unnecessary out. Robbie also would’ve still been here without my trick. That’s the thing. So enjoy your win in any case. And get home safely.”  
Of course, he’s right. Well...  
She does get home where she actually finds Robbie, Cat, Jason and Andre sitting on the couch, watching a movie, laughing themselves silly. Tori’s parents don’t seem happy but Tori joins them and they still have a good time. Though Tori of course also has to text Beck to ask about Benji and he shortly texts back that Benji is fine, that just the tip of one of his finger is slightly burned but luckily not too bad because Jade saw it just in time.

 

Tori feels amazing with everything happening with Ryder. She has a good feeling about this.  
Which gets disappointed.  
In the late afternoon before the Full Moon Jam, the door bell rings. Andre, Cat, Beck and Jade come in, Jade, who has dyed her hair last weekend to black with blue streaks, carrying Benji.  
“We need to talk to you,” Andre says with a serious face and Tori furrows her eyebrows: “Okay. What’s up?”  
It’s mainly Beck and Andre telling her about how a girl told Robbie about Ryder and their project for the dance class. Cat just looks at her worried, while Jade apparently can’t help herself putting two mean comments about how “perfect” Ryder is and how she was right.  
Beck shoots her a warning look at the first and says her name at the second comment which both make Jade go silent for a few seconds again.  
They go on, explaining about how Robbie told them and they then checked it out with some of the other girls Ryder’s gone out with and apparently, it’s his scheme to get good grades by dating girls good in their class.  
“So, he’s just using me to get a good grade?” Tori asks defeated. She has liked him so much and can’t believe this. Gosh. How could’ve she been so stupid?  
And while Andre apologizes, Jade shoots exactly at that with a small smirk: “You must feel pretty stupid right now.”  
“Okay, that’s a time-out,” Beck decides.  
Jade looks at him with an open mouth. “No, I was just trying to...”  
Beck cuts through: “Go sit on the steps.”  
He makes a gesture to the stairs before he pulls Benji out of her arms. Jade may pout but does go to the stairs to sit down there. Well, if there’s anyone who can ask that of Jade...  
Tori is glad that Jade therefore won’t say anything to her now. She couldn’t stand it. It already hurts too much.  
“So, what do I do now?” she asks helplessly.  
Of course, she can’t sing a duet with him anymore. On the other hand... She doesn’t want to fail and has to sing something herself and only has one day left. But what if... What if Andre writes something for her which she therefore can easily sing (she always feels comfortable singing his songs; they work perfectly together)? What if he writes something for her, with which she could revenge herself at the same time?  
Andre has to get to his great-grandfather’s birthday but agrees as they all want him to help her, so they move over to the piano.  
Beck directly puts Benji down at the piano and tells him: “Go to Mommy.”  
Benji does, happily so, and Jade takes him, though she actually seems a little like she’s pouting. Well, Tori has never seen her like that. Though at the moment, she also doesn’t have much time or nerve to appreciate it or worry about it.  
Andre is brilliant as always and quickly gets a melody and some lyrics down. Everyone else also helps, puts in ideas. Except Jade of course.  
It’s a while later that Andre is outside to shortly call his grandmother while Cat is in the bathroom. Tori has moved over to the kitchen but she can still hear Beck and Jade surprinsingly clearly as they start talking quietly.  
Beck has sat down next to Jade on the stairs in between but they haven’t exchanged a word, have all been concentrated on the song anyway.  
Now, Beck gently says: “You know you would’ve regretted it if I wouldn’t have stopped you. Tori was already down and she is your friend – even if you deny it.”  
Tori surpresses a smile as she busies herself with her drink in the kitchen.  
“And you would’ve regretted kicking her like that while she was down.”  
“Look at you, smartass,” Jade answers grumpily. “Gosh. You annoy me.”  
Cat comes back from the bathroom and directly jumps into the kitchen to Tori to also get herself a drink. Though she starts talking about all different kind of drinks, Tori can still hear Beck say, obviously smiling: “I know. But you still love me.”  
“Maybe,” Jade answers casually. “Maybe, I'm just staying with you because of the kid...”  
Tori sees them share a short kiss before Jade says: “Tell me you love me.”  
“I love you,” Beck says and they share another kiss before Jade smirks: “Now, as I’m still totally in a time-out or whatever... You have to change your son.”  
She hands Benji over to Beck who stands up. “Sure,” he says amused and does go change him.  
Andre comes back inside at the same time and they get back to the song.  
The Full Moon Jam turns out amazing. Tori has one of the best times ever. Benji isn’t there. Apparently, this is another night out for Beck and Jade. And they actually disappear in between, just the two of them, so Tori assumes they enjoy their time together.


	9. Beck Falls for Tori and Ice Cream for Ke$ha

Tori does something really stupid. She auditions for a role and agrees to do the stunt for the main character. Why?  
She’s more than afraid as she goes to school the next morning, knowing it could very well be her last time there as the next day, she will already have to do that stunt.  
She directly wants to complain to her friends about it as she gets into school but she gets distracted. Andre, Beck, Jade and Robbie are standing at Jade’s locker again, and Andre carries Benji.  
Tori walks up to them, greets everyone before she of course asks the small boy with a smile: “What are you doing here again?”  
Beck explains, as expected: “Jade’s mom’s on a business trip again for four days and my mom was able to take time off except today because she has an important meeting. So, he’s here again just for the day.”  
Cat arrives, as soon as Beck has finished, sees Benji, instantly claps her hands excitedly before she runs off, saying: “Oh, my gosh. I have an idea!”  
Tori and Andre look after her with raised eyebrows while Jade decides: “Whatever. I’m going to my first class.”  
“See you for break,” Beck says and they share a kiss before Jade also quickly presses a kiss on Benji’s cheek, then she leaves.  
Andre hands Benji over to Beck as the others decide they also should go to their classes which makes Andre and Tori leave together and Beck and Robbie.  
It’s the break after that Jade obviously waits at her locker for Beck and Benji and Andre and Tori go to her to talk a little bit. Andre has still wanted to ask her about some English project anyway and they talk about it until break is almost over. It’s only then that Jade suddenly looks past them horrified. “Oh, my god,” she murmurs.  
Tori turns to see Cat and Beck, between them on their hands Benji walking up to them. And Benji doesn’t wear his normal blue pants Tori is sure he has worn earlier. Instead, his pants are now a very bright yellow.  
“Mommy!” Benji calls out as his and his mother’s eyes meet, his smile almost as bright as his pants.  
Cat and Beck let go of him and he quickly runs up to Jade – Andre and Tori of course make room – and Jade pulls him into her arms. “Benji. You look different than before,” she slowly says.  
“I made those for him,” Cat says excitedly. Whenever she did that. As far as Tori gathers, this must have been Cat’s idea, to make Benji these pants, before their first class. Has she skipped her own first class to make these? Or has she prepared everything in the few brief minutes left before class and has then caught Beck and Benji after their first class and has made the pants in front of their eyes during the break that’s now almost over?  
Cat doesn’t explain herself, just continues, looking at Jade happily: “Doesn’t he look adorable? I wanted to make him a whole costume like dress him as... Pooh Bear but I thought you wouldn’t like that and would be angry with me.”  
Jade’s eyes tell it all. Of course she would’ve hated Cat if she would’ve dressed her son as Pooh Bear. Though Tori could imagine it as extremely cute.  
But Jade addresses Benji again, with forced calmness: “You like those pants?”  
Benji looks down on himself and squeals: “Low.”  
“Yes, they are yellow,” Jade says and gives him a kiss on the cheek before she lets him down again.  
Cat takes his hand in hers as she asks: “We have the same class together, yeah?”  
Beck nods. Both he and Jade share their next class with Cat (and Tori), so naturally Benji will be in that class as well. Promptly, Cat starts walking to that class with Benji on her hand, with Beck, Jade and Tori following them slowly after Tori having said and Beck having nodded good-bye to Andre.  
“I’ll kill her,” Jade murmurs darkly, glaring to Cat and Benji in front of them, and Beck puts his arm around her with a smile, obviously being totally fine with his son wearing pants that brightly yellow.  
“Come on, he does look adorable,” he says before he kisses her temple.  
She intertwines her fingers with his as she answers: “Ugh. I’m going to go blind when I look at those for too long.”  
“At least, the last thing you’ll ever see will be our son then,” Beck says lightly and Tori clearly sees her rolling her eyes before they share a kiss though.  
Benji does wear those pants for the rest of the day, even after Jade has gone away to change his diapers. Obviously, Benji is already in love with those pants and Jade won’t take anything from him he loves.  
At least that’s implied when Cat wants to leave to do something for her costume designing class and Jade warns her to not make anything else for Benji or at least to not give it to him before she has looked at it and approved it.  
Robbie does a project with a few other students while Jade, Beck, Tori and Andre decide to stay with Sikowitz during study hall – and Tori finally gets around to tell them all about her audition while Benji walks around the room, everyone always glancing in his direction to make sure everything’s alright. Also, Andre has a camera in his hand, possibly looking at either photos or settings, Beck is reading in some small book and Jade is weirdly playing with a scissors in her hair.  
They all still listen as Tori talks – and they don’t seem to feel all that much for her. They ask her why she has even accepted the job as a stunt double and how the team thought she could even do something like that. As if it hasn’t been her friends who have told her she would have to up her resume.  
Of course, Jade now acts as if they haven’t told her that.  
But Tori isn’t even able to tell her off for that. She just begs Sikowitz to get her out of all of this. But they say she would get blackballed then.  
“Great. So what do I do? Get blackballed or do a stunt and get my face smashed?” Tori asks hopelessly and of course Jade says she should do both. Yeah, thanks.  
And they say that stunt doubles rarely get injured which may be true but normally, stunt doubles also now what they’re doing.  
As Sikowitz tells her she has made a commitment and starts some metaphore with his coconut that doesn’t make sense and which he also looses pretty early on, Benji approaches Andre and stretches out his little arms for him. Andre instantly pulls the boy onto his lap and also lets him also look into the camera though Benji doesn’t seem interested in that.  
Tori also goes to sit down and finally, Beck asks: “So, what’s the stunt you’re supposed to do anyway?”  
“Fall off a chair,” Tori answers, feeling defeated.  
Andre looks up with raised eyebrows: “Fall off a chair?”  
Jade also doesn’t seem to believe her: “That’s the big stunt you’re bugging about?”  
Sikowitz even makes fun of her a little: “Hah, you big baby.”  
But... It could still be dangerous. She doesn’t know how to fall so it looks real and doesn’t hurt her too much at the same time.  
She is in the middle of her explanation, when suddenly Jade kicks her right in her kidney and make her fall off her chair in pain.  
“Looked good to me,” Jade says while Tori turns around speechless – and at the same time, Benji starts cackling like crazy.  
Everyone looks to him as he sits in Andre’s arms, looking at Tori gleefully. Apparently, he has liked his mother’s kick and Tori falling down. Tori can’t believe it. He must see that Tori is hurt. He must see this isn’t a scene they’re doing, right?  
Beck and Jade seem both amused though and Sikowitz also sounds much more nicely teasing than anything else (like he often seems to talk to and about Jade): “He comes so much after you, Jade.”  
Andre nods as he rubs the small boy’s belly who seems still very happy. “He looks more like Beck but the way he laughs about hurt and injury...”  
And Tori has to remind everyone as she’s getting up, holding her side: “And I’m still hurt. Maybe, I should go to the nurse.”  
Jade rolls her eyes. “Don’t be a baby.”  
“You survived this, you will survive tomorrow,” Beck assures her. “Especially as noone there will kick you like that. Probably.”  
Jade smirks but Tori tries to ignore it as she sits back down, still holding her side as she’s still hurting. She sighs: “I’m not so sure.”  
“Don’t worry too much,” Andre says. Well, and that’s so much easier to say than to do.

The rest of the day goes by way too fast and the next morning, Tori goes to the set instead of going to school. But she’s in luck and doesn’t have to do the scene then after all. Instead, she’s supposed to come back next day’s afternoon as they tell her over the phone when she’s already back in school. Her friends promise her to come and support her, so she tells the crew when she comes on set right after school while her friends shortly go home in between and Beck and Jade also get Benji.  
Tori is so nervous and out there that she barely notices her friends – though she does notice Jade’s threatening gesture she manages to make even with Benji in her arms.  
Beck is the one to safe her from the stunt. He texts her and Cat points her into his direction and he actually does the stunt in a dress like hers. Tori barely hears anything from the hall she waits in and finally, Beck comes running back in, only nods and Tori runs past him back out there and lets herself be celebrated by her friends.  
It’s only when the crew has turned away again and care for their own stuff that Jade directly asks: “So, where’s Beck?”  
“Huh?” Tori makes.  
Only now, she gets to take a good look at her friends again and notices that Cat is in a tuxedo she has probably made herself. But not only she wears one. Benji is also dressed in a perfectly fitting tux and Tori assumes that Cat has also made that and Jade has obviously been fine with it then, even though Cat and Benji are now dressed so alike.  
Benji does look amazingly cute in it.  
Andre seems amused as he explains: “Benji recognized him right away and squealed ‘Daddy’ as he ran by.”  
Of course, Benji has recognized Beck. Good thing that he hasn’t called out for him during the scene – or possibly has cackled as Beck has fallen down. Beck possibly would have had to do it again then. Though Tori guesses they also could cut out the sound for the scene, even have to probably, to put other sounds in or something, so Benji also could have said something. Maybe, he did.  
Jade says: “As if it wouldn’t have been obvious either way. Beck suddenly disappearing as soon as we arrive. You suddenly being able to do the stunt after you’ve been to the restroom. Yeah, right.”  
Okay, so her friends have also acted to not arise suspicion with the crew who is supposed to think it has been Tori after all.  
Tori finally answers the question: “Well, he’s probably changing back into his own clothes now.”  
They go into the hall into the direction of the restroom where Beck probably is changing back. But he doesn’t. He still stands inside the hall, glancing around the edge into the hallway to the restroom though.  
“Hey,” he says as he sees all of them coming up to him.  
Cat is extremely happy while Robbie seems impressed at him in that outift. Andre’s just stunned though he does mutter a “wow” that could be interpreted in several ways. Jade already smirks.  
“Why aren’t you back in your own clothes?” Tori asks.  
Beck doesn’t seem embarrassed by all of his friends seeing him like this. “I wasn’t sure who was in the restroom just now and apparently waited too long because now some of the crew are inside. They came from the other direction and definitely talked about that stunt as they were going in. I thought it wouldn’t be smart to have me seen by someone involved, so I thought I’d wait for another moment.”  
Jade steps up further to Beck, still smirking, and Benji reaches out to Beck with one of his hand, smiling: “Daddy.”  
“Yeah, Benji. That’s your Daddy,” Jade confirms, walking around Beck, inspecting him from all sides which he lets happen. “Look. He’s wearing a pretty dress.”  
“I made it,” Cat cuts in happily.  
“It turned out great,” Robbie says and Tori isn’t sure how cheeky he means it.  
Jade meanwhile tells them: “Someone take a photo of us.”  
She poses beside Beck, holding Benji between them, and he actually also puts his arm around her as Andre pulls out his phone and takes a photo. “What a sweet family,” he says with a grin, showing it to Jade who seems extremely satisfied: “Send it to me.”

They go eat something together after that, all seven of them (well, eight, if you count Rex) after Tori and Beck have both changed back into their own and normal clothes.  
This whole stunt thing doesn’t feel satisfying though and the next day she manages to make Sikowitz and her friends come with her to the set again at break to fall down that frightening distance on her own. She does – though with “help” of Jade this time.

 

November comes and from somewhere, Trina has pulled out some “vow” Tori has made as a child and even comes to school for lunch to show her the piece of paper she has written it on. And Tori’s friends even agree with Trina that she should keep her promise – which pretty much makes her Trina’s slave for a whole month.  
At least she is free most of her time in school. Though Trina has too much time. She just has very few auditions and no job at the moment and sometimes even comes to school for break to have Tori do her bidding. Tori can’t stand it. It’s terrible. And then, Andre gives her an idea.  
He tries to get a private concert by Ke$ha and Tori manages to strike a deal with Trina that if she gets that private concert for her, she will let her out of her previous vow. And she actually manages to get all her friends in. Andre of course helps her anyway as he has tried to find the letters for a few days now.  
They all come by when Tori asks them to on Saturday morning. Even Jade is there, and of course Jade and Beck have also brought Benji.  
Tori has gotten a lot of ice cream and they get started right away. All of them eat a little at first before they decide that it would be stupid to eat all of it and they should put it into some big buckets instead that they quickly organize.  
Though after a while, Cat starts feeding Benji some of the ice cream instead. Benji has sat between Beck and Jade before and has also gotten a little bit from both his parents but they otherwise distracted him pretty much from the ice cream.  
Now, he sits next to Cat and takes every spoonful Cat offers him. After a while when Cat opens the next cup, Jade suddenly says: “Don’t give him any more.”  
Cat pulls a pout as she looks up, immediately knowing Jade is talking to her about Benji and the ice cream. “But he likes it.”  
“He has had enough,” Jade decides but that’s also the moment, Benji calls out: “More.”  
He looks to the ice cream in Cat’s hand and Cat looks to him and then to Jade with big eyes as if she wants to tell her that she obviously can’t deny Benji more if he asks for it like that.  
“Benji,” Jade says though and the little boy turns to her. “Come to us.”  
Benji crosses his arms in front of himself. “No.” Well, Tori has never heard him say no so decisively but neither Jade nor Beck, who has followed the conversation with a mild look on his face, seem shocked by it.  
“Benjamin,” Jade instead says strictly and Tori watches Benji tilting his head as if he considers how serious his mother in, then he suddenly stands up and walks over to her and Beck.  
Jade strokes his hair with her hand as he passes her and Beck puts his own ice cream aside as he pulls up Benji on the couch next to him and Jade. “Come here, baby. How about you take a look at this?”  
He hands him a catalogue from under the table and asks in the same move, directed to Tori: “Is this important or is it okay if he rips it up a little?”  
“No, it’s fine,” Tori answers because she’s pretty sure even her mother looks up and orders most of the stuff over the internet and it has just been on the table out of habit. And Tori of course has thrown them under the table when they’ve gotten all the ice cream cups and buckets all over the living room.  
Beck nods and opens the catalogue up in Benji’s lap to the baby’s clothes and the little boy instantly seems captured by it. Though by the way he points and babbles, he seems mostly interested in the other children pictured inside, not the clothes.  
It does keep him busy though for a long while. They are now already at it for two hours when they still only have found ks and as. They talk about how there obviously are letters harder to find when Jade suddenly cuts in: “Well, I’m sick of this. Ice cream reminds me of my childhood.”  
That’s a weird statement.  
“You didn’t have a happy childhood?” Cat carefully asks.  
Jade almost glares at her as she answers: “My favorite toy was a hammer. You finish the puzzle.”  
Tori isn’t sure how serious Jade is about that. After all, someone also needed to give her a hammer for it to be her favorite toy when she was still little. But who knows? Tori does know her father and can imagine a childhood around that guy as not very good.  
“You know, you don’t have to help,” Beck now says. “You can also do something fun with Benji.”  
He shrugs but Jade looks at him as if the suggestion alone is stupid. “Don’t push is,” she quietly says.  
Tori doesn’t get it. Have they somehow fought before about this or something? Beck also doesn’t seem to know what this is about though: “What?”  
Jade doesn’t say anything and for a second Tori is about to say that only those people who helped to find the letters would be allowed to come if they win that private concert. But she bites the comment back as she guesses it would be fine if Jade would leave with Benji. After all, she would take care of her son then and maybe that would be the main reason for her to leave and she would just use her hate for ice cream as an excuse or something.  
She gets back to her ice cream cup and feels an enormous thrill as she pulls the letter out and finds it to be an E.  
She and Andre immediately celebrate with the others only briefly acknowledging it. Then, Robbie suddenly grabs one of the buckets already filled with ice cream and walks with it to the door. Of course, Tori has to ask, confused: “Hey, where’re you going?”  
Robbie explains: “I don’t think we should waste all this ice cream, so I’m gonna take it down to that playground on the corner and give it to some little kids.”  
Beck immediately draws his eyebrows together as he slowly states: “I don’t know how kids’ parents are gonna feel about a strange guy handing out...”  
He gets interrupted by Jade though: “Let him do it!”  
Beck turns to her and says: “At least let him take Benji then.”  
“No. Let him do it,” Jade decides and Tori is sure to hear Beck also say: “you’re a terrible influence”, while Jade continues: “Just let him do it, just let him do it.”  
Finally Beck turns back to Robbie: “Good luck.”  
Tori is too perplexed to say anything, as she doesn’t understand how Robbie can even think this is a good idea – and how he doesn’t realize that something is up after the exchange between Beck and Jade. But he leaves without another word and everyone else gets back to searching for the letters.

Not too long after, they order some food before they get right back to the ice cream again.  
Jade and Beck lie Benji down in Tori’s bed which Tori suggests because she doesn’t need the bed at the moment anyway and this way, he at least lies in a soft space. She leads them upstairs though Jade of course already has been in her room before, and plants pillows and blankets in a way on the bed that makes sure that Benji won’t roll down, before she leaves the family alone in her room. Which doesn’t feel all that good but she guesses Beck will keep Jade from doing anything weird in her room.  
Jade and Beck are back when Andre drives to get more ice cream. He comes back in time, so that Beck, Jade, Tori and Cat don’t have to stop for a second with emptying cups.  
“I drove by the playground by the way,” Andre tells them while he sits back down on the couch and also gets back to work. “I didn’t see Robbie anywhere.”  
“He’s gone for over an hour,” Tori notices. Well, it also would’ve been weird if he still would’ve been at the playground. Though where is he then?  
Cat looks up worried: “I hope nothing bad has happened.”  
Beck meanwhile turns to Jade. “You know it’s your fault if they have killed him, right?”  
She smirks. “Oh, I so would kill him. Just imagine some creep with ice cream walking up to Benji...”  
“Well, I also would kill them,” Beck nods. “Which is why we shouldn’t have let Robbie go to that playground.”  
Jade just shrugs while the worry in Cat’s face grows: “You don’t think someone has actually killed him, do you?”  
Tori pulls out her phone and tries to call Robbie as Jade rolls her eyes and answers flatly: “Probably not. They probably have just hurt him a little. He should’ve known. He’s probably hiding at home. Or maybe, someone has also called the cops and they have taken him in. He will be out in no time then.”  
“Either way: I can’t reach him,” Tori says as she is directly sent to voice mail.  
Andre shrugs: “I guess Jade is right though. If he isn’t back in the evening and we still can’t reach him then, we should ask around.”  
They agree on that before it gets silent again between them except all of them constantly calling out the letters they find.

Benji wakes up an hour later again and Beck stays upstairs with him for a while before he brings him back down, probably also freshly changed. Jade gives the boy a spoon now as well and lets him hit all the empty ice cream cups with it. Benji giggles about all the noises and how the cups break as he hits upon them.  
Of course, sooner or later, he walks over to Andre and hits him on his leg with the spoon, apparently quite hard and sudden, which makes Andre give a hurt noise, Jade smirk and Beck quickly stand up, go to Benji, grab his hand and take the spoon out of it. Benji promptly starts crying and says “back” a few times, reaching for the spoon. Beck puts it aside and picks up Benji, rocking him while he says: “Come on, baby. You know you can’t keep playing with something as soon as you’re hitting someone with it. Let’s do something else, huh? There’s so much you can do. How about we eat some ice cream first?”  
He’s already in the process to take the ice cream cup he was emptying anyway before he got up to get Benji, but Jade warningly cuts in: “Don’t calm him down with ice cream.”  
She also puts down her cup and spoon and stands up to walk to the Benji’s bag.  
Cat herself has just taken another bite of ice cream like they all do from time to time because it’s just there and why not? “Why can’t he calm down with ice cream? I bet he would stop crying instantly.”  
“Yeah, great. And he’ll learn that ice cream makes everything better. Or food at all,” Jade says, rolling her eyes. She has gotten Benji’s rattle out of the bag and now walks up to Benji and Beck.  
Well, okay. She makes sense there though Cat of course has to say: “Ice cream does make everything better.” Which is totally true but anyway...  
Benji has gotten much calmer already and Jade now shows him the rattle, plays with it in front of him: “How about you play with this, baby? This looks like fun, huh? Much more fun than that spoon anyway.”  
Benji’s face lights up again and he reaches out for the rattle, babbling happily once more.  
Jade hands it over to him and gives him a kiss on his cheek before she says: “Don’t hit anyone with it though or your daddy will take it away again.”  
Beck smiles and they share a kiss while Benji already plays with the rattle between them and then squeals, showing his father in whose arms he’s still sitting: “Daddy. Wattle.”  
“Yes, your mommy has given you your rattle,” Beck confirms with a smile while both he and Jade go back to sit down next to each other.  
He lets Benji down again and he promptly sits down on the floor, making noises with the rattle, looking around happily.  
Tori of course returns his smile before she finally gets back to the ice cream.

Half way through, Benji also starts to take the room apart and Tori is the only one to stop him after she has noticed. Luckily, he doesn’t start crying at that.  
Not too long after, Beck and Jade talk about how he should eat something again and than slowly get ready for bed.  
“You could go home with him already,” Beck suggests.  
Jade cocks an eyebrows: “As if I would leave you alone in this house.”  
She has actually done that before but anyway... Beck shrugs: “Or I’ll bring him to my parents. They said they would be home. They can take care of him until we come home as well. I could get some more ice cream on the way.”  
“Ice cream,” Benji repeats the word he has probably heard way too often today. Tori is pretty sure Benji hasn’t been able to say those words before.  
Jade now pulls him to her. He has sat between her and Cat just now, again “reading” in a magazine Tori has gotten him. But he has thrown it carelessly aside when he has heard his parents talking about him.  
Jade tilts her head as she answers Beck: “I guess that’s fine.” She turns to Benji: “So, you will go with your daddy to Granny and Pop. We’ll also be there soon, huh?”  
She hugs him and drops a kiss on his head before she hands him over to Beck who takes him and tells him: “Say bye-bye to everyone.”  
“Bye-bye,” Benji says and Beck grabs his bag while Benji waves to all of them and they of course all say something back, then they leave.

More time passes and soon enough, the cups are all empty again.  
They are at the last ones when Jade says, sitting on the small wall between kitchen and piano by now: “Okay, this is actually causing me pain. And not the good kind.”  
“All we need is an s and an h. Is that so much to ask?” Andre also asks desperately.  
And it’s really almost unbelieveable that they are still missing those two letters after they have opened probably a few hundred ice cream cups.  
“I’m out of ice cream,” Cat says and Tori nods: “Me, too.” She has just also put away the last cup.  
“Beck will be back with more soon,” Jade says. Tori turns to see she’s already on her phone again. She has texted a few times since Beck has gone with Benji, undoubtedly with Beck, about him arriving home, giving Benji to his parents and driving to the store for more ice cream.  
Tori wants to ask if Jade knows if he’s already out of the store and on his way or not when Robbie suddenly walks in, looking somehow totally destroyed.  
“Robbie! What happened?” Tori instantly asks as Robbie lets himself fall down on the couch.  
Robbie tells how he went to the playground and asked who of the kids wanted free ice cream and how the mothers there chased him into an alley and beat him with sticks.  
Jade actually laughs at that before Robbie continues that one big mother even stepped on his neck.  
“I would have done that and you wouldn’t have survived,” Jade states, obviously amused.  
Gosh. Tori can’t believe it. So, he actually really has been hurt. Has he lied in the alley for all those hours or what?  
She wants to question further when Beck comes in through the back door. “Hey.” He hasn’t gotten any ice cream with him and Andre and Tori promptly ask him about that but Beck says Ke$ha has put up some update.  
They all look it up and... great. Some dude in Northridge has found all the letters and has won the private concert. The contest is over.  
Tori feels desparate and the others try to cheer her up which isn’t really working. Jade, who is angry about the wasted time, decides that they can also go home then and the others agree with that.  
They do stay to clean up which Tori wouldn’t even have thought of. She probably would’ve all left it there and would’ve gotten to her room, only to be yelled at by her parents tomorrow.  
But they all clean up, even with Jade helping at least a little, as Beck turns to Robbie: “So, what happened to you?”  
Robbie explains again what has happened and Beck pats his back sympathatically as he passes him by: “Well... I tried to warn you. I mean... Think about it: Imagine you would’ve been to the playground with Benji and some stranger would’ve shown up, offering free ice cream.”  
“I would love that. Free ice cream is great, isn’t it? Especially for kids,” Robbie says and Beck stops, raising his eyebrows while Jade instantly glares at their friend: “Not that I would’ve ever considered it before but you will definitely never go anywhere alone with Benji. Ever.”  
“Can I ever go somewhere alone with Benji?” Cat asks with lit-up eyes but Jade decides without hesitation: “No.”  
Cat pouts while Beck smiles and pulls Jade into a short kiss before they both get back to cleaning up.

On Monday, the contest is back on and Tori immediately leaves school to get more ice cream.  
Her friends join her again, Beck and Jade picking up Benji from Jade’s home before also coming again. And they actually find an h and figure out how the letters must roughly be sorted into different flavors. And Cat knows a store where the least favorite flavor is sold and she, Andre, Tori and Jade decide to drive there.  
Beck meanwhile says he’ll take Benji home, eat something with him and possibly tuck him into bed. Jade says she will come by before going home that night, as soon as they know if they have that last letter after all.  
They do find the letter and win the private concert which is unbelievably fantastic. Benji of course is also there for the concert (he also has been with them most of the time they have searched for the letters, so...), though he wears earplugs Beck and Jade both check on a few times.  
Everyone dances with the little boy in between and he somehow seems like the life of the party, even with Ke$ha there.


	10. Tori Gets Stuck, Prom Wrecker, Helen Back Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> As said from the beginning, I'll cut a few episodes. So, Locked Up! is missing from this chapter. Also, I'll remind you that Trina has already graduated from Hollywood Arts at this point, so she doesn't have to reaudition in Helen Back Again - which means there is never any confusion about if Tori is successful or not.  
> Thank you very much for the new kudos given and I hope, everyone will enjoy this chapter.

Jade is in a really bad mood when she comes to school the following Tuesday. And she’s alone which never happens, because Beck usually has to bring Benji by her house and therefore takes her to school with him, or he wants to see Benji in the morning when he has slept at Jade’s and can take her with him from that.  
Andre and Tori, who have talked about the next projects coming up, share a glance after they have both noticed Jade in her obvious bad mood and she has just arrived at her locker when Cat and Robbie show up and Cat happily wants to talk to her, but she cuts through with even Tori and Andre being able to hear her on the other side of the hall: “Stop talking or I will seriously hurt you!”  
Cat pouts while Robbie takes a step back with Rex. Andre and Tori approach her as well and Tori carefully asks: “So, uhm... What’s up?”  
Jade looks at her and almost seems to bite back bad words – for whichever reason she thinks bad words -, then she actually answers: “Beck’s grandfather has passed away.”  
“What?” Tori asks shocked and Cat puts her hands in front of her mouth: “No!”  
“I’m so sorry,” Robbie says and Jade shrugs: “Yeah, well.... It happened yesterday and he and his parents of course decided instantly to fly to Canada to be with their family and to be at the funeral and everything. They took Benji with them.”  
And it’s almost as if she needs to talk to someone about it and if that’s the only reason she tells them at all.  
“They did? Why?” Andre asks confused and Tori also doesn’t get it. Benji is still so small and Jade and her mother are home after all, so why take him to a funeral, even if it’s his great-grandfather?  
“Because my mom is on one of her dumb business trips since Sunday evening. For the whole week. Beck’s dad has taken time off of work to take care of Benji and now we’ve all talked yesterday after the news and apparently, noone wants me to be all alone with Benji, to have to take him to school and everything as neither my father nor my grandparents would take him over the mornings. So, we decided for him to go to Canada with Beck and his parents.”  
And without warning she kicks against the lockers under hers.  
Tori exchanges a worried glance with Andre and Robbie. Obviously, Jade has been involved in the talk and Tori can only imagine that she has also agreed in the end because it probably truly is smart to have Benji with his father and his whole family instead of alone with her without anyone to help out just in case – and with her still having to go to school. But Tori can understand why Jade is frustrated anyway. This must mean Jade won’t see her son at all for a few days. Tori can’t imagine that ever happening before. It must be terrible.  
Cat meanwhile hugs Jade with a sympathetic noise which Jade actually lets happen.  
“How long will they be away?” Robbie finally asks.  
Jade answers grumpily: “At least until the end of the week. They plan on staying two weeks as his parents have been able to get that much time off of work and Beck can also afford to miss that much.”  
“That’s a long time,” Tori says because it is if Jade and Benji have never been apart for more than a day.  
Jade nods. “If Benji or...” She hesitates for a second, then: “...you know... anyone won’t be able to do it, Beck, his mother and Benji will come back after the week. Or just Beck and Benji if my mom will be back then.”  
Tori is only shortly hung up on that last part which is weird because after all, Jade has said her mother is on a business trip until the end of the week, so naturally she would be back next week.  
But she is way more thinking about Jade hesitating and how of course the only two people possibly having a problem with Benji going to Canada with Beck and his family are Benji himself and Jade. Jade just hasn’t wanted to say so but yes, surely the deal is about her possibly not being able to make it for so long without her son. Which is only natural but that’s Jade, even denying to say so.  
“I’m sure you’ll manage,” Cat says while she finally lets go of Jade again.  
Jade flatly says: “I also would’ve managed with Benji alone here. Like I don’t turn eighteen at the end of the month.” As if that says anything, as if that would change the situation. As if with her being eighteen and out of age, everyone would be more than fine with the idea of her being alone with Benji for more than a day. And Tori is still sure that Jade has agreed with Benji going with Beck, even if she now is angry about it and doesn’t like to be apart from Benji. She also has to deem it best for her son.  
“They’ll be back for that, won’t they?” Andre asks, apparently quickly doing the math in his head.  
“They better be,” Jade dryly answers and Tori is sure, hell would be let loose if Benji and Beck would miss Jade’s birthday.  
“Whatever,” Jade continues. “I’m going to class now.”  
With that, she truly leaves, Cat quickly following her.

Everyone understands Jade’s mood the whole day through. And Tori can’t believe that today of all days Sikowitz must give them their roles for Steamboat Suzy and that he actually makes Tori Suzy and Jade her understudy.  
Tori even thinks about asking Sikowitz to change the roles, to make her understudy. But she loves the role and really does want to play it and... well.  
She knows Jade would’ve been angry either way (which she deems as a little unfair because she feels she has deserved that role) but obviously it’s worse now. After all, Beck isn’t there to calm her down. And she’s missing Benji already, knowing she won’t even see him directly after school.  
And of course, Jade then tries to kick Tori out of the play which already takes place on Friday. She manages with accidental help of Robbie. Jade even behaves awfully in the hospital and Tori suggests for her to scare the babies without thinking but of course Jade even deems it fun though she has a baby herself. Well... That’s Jade.  
It doesn’t take much longer for Tori to be totally out. After she has to give blood for the third time, she doesn’t really notice anything anymore though she hears afterwards that she managed to come to the Blackbox Theater and start off the performance there.  
Sikowitz has taken over then and Tori is almost happy that she doesn’t know anything about that at all anymore because she imagines it way too weird.  
But as Sikowitz doesn’t even allow Jade to take over, naturally Jade’s mood gets even worse.

 

Benji doesn’t come back during the weekend and Jade busies herself with preparations for her live performance. Meanwhile Tori notices that Hollywood Arts doesn’t have a prom. And of course it’s not close to the end of the school year or something but they have too many activities during that anyway and why not have a prom now?  
She asks Sikowitz about it and manages to get the Asphalt Café for Saturday. It’s only when Jade walks into their meeting to plan prom that Tori realizes that she has snatched the Asphalt Café away from Jade for the time of her live performance.  
She is too perplexed at first to say much about it but she also doesn’t want to give up on prom. She’s already in love with the idea of it and Jade can surely still do her performance some other day, right? Possibly somewhere else? In a smaller space?  
But she does understand Jade’s anger. And Jade must feel bad enough at the moment, now even having gotten her live performance cancelled?  
Tori thinks about it the rest of the day and talks about it with Andre the next morning and comes to the conclusion that they can do both. Why couldn’t they? They would have to see how to set up but there’s still enough time to plan it, to plan both their events around each other.  
She thinks about it some more before she drives to Jade’s house that evening, Andre having given her the address.  
She rings the bell and hears the lock click open from the inside before the door is pulled open. A boy stands inside, brown hair, brown eyes, possibly about nine years old.  
“Hello,” Tori says, feeling a little confused. He looks like he could be Jade’s brother. Tori hasn’t known that Jade has a brother.  
“Hello,” the boy answers, narrowing his eyes at her.  
“I want to talk to Jade,” Tori continues and the boy asks: “Who are you?”  
“Tori. A friend of Jade’s,” she answers and the boy actually seems to recognize the name the way he looks.  
He opens the door a little bit further. “She’s buying groceries at the moment. But she’ll be back in a sec. I guess you can come in and wait if you want to.”  
“Sure,” Tori answers and he lets her in and locks the door back up behind her before he walks in further.  
The living room seems lovely though it’s not nearly as colorful as that of Tori’s parents’ home. Jade’s mother also must not like bright color all that much then. Next to the couch, there is blanket on the floor with some toys which must be for Benji to play.  
The living room opens to the right from the front door and at it’s far end the kitchen begins. On the left side of the front door, the stairs go up.  
The boy sits down on the couch and takes the controller into his hand which he must have placed on the coffee table when Tori ringed the bell. He’s playing some game on a console on TV.  
“You’re her little brother?” Tori asks as he also walks closer to the couch.  
“Jasper,” he introduces himself without looking up from the TV.  
Tori sits down on the edge of the couch. So, Jasper seems to be home alone, with locking the door and everything. And Jade is apparently grocery shopping.  
“Where is your mom?” Tori asks. Well, sure enough Jade’s mother would be at work at this time either way. But without Benji around and everything... Why wouldn’t the mother go grocery shopping in the morning but leave it for Jade to do while her brother would then be home alone?  
Jasper answers: “She extended her whole business trip after it was clear Benji would go to Canada with Beck and his family.”  
“And Jade left you alone?” Tori tentatively asks.  
That makes Jasper look up again and looking like her in a way Jade has so often already, as if she was stupid: “I’m old enough. And I hate grocery shopping.”  
Well, Tori guesses it’s true that Jasper is old enough to stay alone for some time, even if she doesn’t know how old he might be exactly.  
Anyway... She continues curiously: “Right. Hasn’t your mom been home at all during the last week?”  
She hasn’t known about any extension of the business trip. Jade has never said anything about that. Though Tori remembers now that Jade has already said the first day of Beck and Benji being gone that they could come home alone without Beck’s mother if Jade’s mother would be back then. So, the extension must have been on the table immediately apparently. (And Tori has also already thought about how Beck's mother would have otherwise come home. Beck and Jade have proved again and again that they are able to take care of Benji alone, also taking him to school if they have to. It's just that they don't want one of them to be burdenedby all of it alone, but neither would be alone if Beck would come home with Benji. But Tori guesses that their parents still feel safer if one of them is close by, in case of an emergency, as Beck and Jade both still are children as well.)  
“No,” Jasper answers. “But this way she won’t have to go away any time soon again, she says.”  
Tori wants to ask why that is when the lock of the door clicks again and the front door is opened. Jade walks in with five bags and a pizza box. She notices Tori as she walks in and her look darkens.  
Tori stands up while Jade kicks the door close behind her and then walks through the living room, past her while she says, directed to her brother: “Haven’t I told you to not let any strangers in?”  
“It’s not a stranger. It’s Vega, isn’t it?” the boy asks as Jade puts her bags on the kitchen counter.  
“Smartypants,” she says. “I brought you pizza. Go to your room and eat it.”  
She walks up to him and hands it over to him. He puts the game back on pause, lies down the controller and takes the box, saying: “Mom doesn’t want me to take food to my room.”  
“I know,” Jade carelessly says and then smirks: “That’s why you’re doing it.”  
He smiles and does go upstairs with the pizza box after that. She meanwhile starts unpacking the groceries and asks, much more harshly than she has talked to her brother: “What do you want?”  
“I didn’t know you had a brother,” Tori confesses, still looking after Jasper.  
“Interesting information,” Jade says pointedly. “Will you leave now?”  
Undoubtedly, she’s angry at her. She has also either glared at her in school or completely ignored her.  
“I’m sorry, Jade,” Tori finally gets to say, for the first time. “I forgot about your performance.”  
“That makes everything better,” Jade claims sarcastically.  
Of course it doesn’t but Tori hopes her idea does: “I thought about it and... why can’t we do both? You know, your performance and my prome. We would have to set up everything pretty early on Saturday, I guess, so it will run smoothly, but then you could do your performance first and we go right into prome after that.”  
Jade looks up from the groceries and just looks at her for at least a minute. Tori isn’t sure what she’s thinking though she guesses Jade doesn’t like the thought of actually cooperating with her in any way and she would have to for this to work. And she probably does want to do her performance.  
“Fine,” she finally says and Tori feels immense relief. She can fix her mistake. Jade lets her. Everything is fine again.  
And she feels like in this moment, Jade will also allow her her curiousness, so she dares to talk about the situation at hand again: “I didn’t know your mother hasn’t come home since the beginning of last week.”  
Jade really doesn’t scold her for the comment in any way, instead she even starts explaining which must mean it makes her extremely happy to have her live performance back on, even if she doesn’t show: “Well, it’s smarter this way. She changed up some meetings with collaques, so she stayed in Asia and will until Saturday. Because of that, she probably won’t have to go away any time soon again. As Benji is taken care off at the moment, it makes sense this way.”  
That does sound reasonable. Though Tori wonders... “But you’re left to take care of your brother?” Nobody wants her to take care of her own son all alone but she is supposed to take care of her brother?  
Jade looks at her like she’s an idiot again. “We chose it that way. And it’s not like it’s difficult to take care of him. He’s at school most of the day and doesn’t need to be changed or fed. And since Mom works in the evenings, he’s with his dad mostly during the week as Mom wants me to take care of my son, not hers at the same time. Sometimes, I spend some time with him while Benji is with Beck or I have him around when I have Benji or when Beck and I both have him together. But it’s not all that much and this way, we finally spend time again.”  
“I bet he loves it,” Tori says with a smile. Because she doesn’t know how Jade is with her brother but she has experienced her with her son a lot by now and she can obviously be really gentle and caring. And Jasper has apparently also wanted to spend time, has decided with Jade to stay with her for these two weeks. And Tori can imagine it quite fun, home alone with your older sister, possibly especially with an older sister like Jade.  
Jade just shrugs, has finally finished putting the groceries away and grabs a yogurt and a spoon before she sits down on the couch. Tori sits down with her and Jade doesn’t glare at her for it.  
Instead, she now says: “He got one of the rawest deals out of this. During the week, he barely sees our mom anymore.”  
Of course. Their mother is home in the mornings while Jasper is in school and leaves about the time he gets home probably. And during night, they all sleep, even if Jasper doesn’t stay with his father but home with his mother. Though... Now that Tori thinks about it... It’s the same for Jade. Jade’s mother may take care of Benji but Jade herself doesn’t see her mother all that much.  
And it’s not like Tori’s mother is around all the time. They are old enough for that to not be necessary anymore. But Tori still spends a lot of time with her. There may be times here and there where her mother is away, just like her father, but in general, she does see them daily and could spend quality time with them almost every day, she guesses. And she likes that she could, even if she doesn’t do it all that often anymore.  
Jade meanwhile is mainly seeing her mother when they hand off Benji and on the weekends.  
Though Tori also has to agree that it’s probably much worse for Jasper if their mother has been home regularly before in the evenings, and isn’t anymore since she has changed clients to take care of Benji in the morning. Though he at least seems to have a caring father himself. As Tori gathers, Jade and Jasper don’t have the same father.  
Anyway... “That sounds tough,” Tori agrees and she isn’t sure if Jade wants to say anything more to that when her phone vibrates in her pocket.  
She pulls it out and picks up the call she is getting.  
“Yeah?” She puts the yogurt, she hasn’t even opened, on the table while she listens, then: “Vega is here.”  
She looks up and to Tori who sits on the couch awkwardly. She thinks it’s never all that comfortable to be with someone in a room while the other one talks on the phone.  
“Yes, in my house. I know,” Jade says into the phone. “Really? Aw. Well... I’ll call later. Though let me shortly talk to our baby.”  
So, she talks to Beck. She stands up and walks a few steps away from Tori into the direction of the front door as she says, much more softly: “Hey, baby, it’s me. Yes, your mommy. Are you having a good time with Daddy? I bet. I’ll call later again, yeah? Yes, I’ll sing you a song then. Bye-bye.”  
Tori can’t help but smile as she listens to Jade and imagines Benji’s answers.  
Now, Beck must talk again, at least Jade doesn’t speak that soft anymore: “Yeah, sure. I’ll see. You, too.”  
She hangs up and sits back on the couch, putting the phone onto the table and picking the yogurt up again.  
“How are they?” Tori asks and Jade answers in a casual voice: “Fine. Benji has learned the word ‘song' and Beck wanted to let me hear it.”  
Tori can’t help but make a sound in awe and then says: “That’s cute.”  
Jade just smiles and starts eating before Tori asks: “How is Beck?”  
With everything going on, she hasn’t asked about Beck yet. She also hasn’t texted him but she also thinks he has enough going on without her asking him how he is. His grandfather has just died after all and he’s with his family and his son.  
“Better,” Jade says. “It’s good that he finally has some more time with his family. He doesn’t get to see them often.”  
Tori nods. She can imagine. Especially since Benji is alive because he probably also doesn’t want to be seperated from him for too long which means that his relatives must visit him or he, Jade and Benji have to fly up to Canada together to visit them.  
“When will he and Benji be back?” Tori asks and Jade even answers that: “Sunday. Benji is doing fine, so...”  
And she is as well. She manages, even if it is tough on her, because she knows Beck does like to spend time with his family and because there is no option of Benji coming back on his own.  
“Whatever. So where and when will I have to set up for my performance?” Jade asks and they start to get into planning right away.

Performance and prom run smoothly. Jade even stays a little bit for prom but not for too long.  
On Monday, Beck is finally back – and Benji must be home as well which funnily enough is definitely obvious by Jade’s face though she doesn’t behave any nicer than usual or smiles much more or anything. But there is a change in her that shows that she finally is reunited with her son.  
Beck does seem fine despite his grandfather’s death. There’s actually something else that quickly occupies all their minds much more: the new school principle. And she wants them all to audition again.  
They all are barely able to talk about anything else and Tori worries so much, when Beck suddenly says to Jade at Tuesday’s lunch table with all of them sitting together like so often: “Anyway... You wanted to ask everyone something.”  
Jade rolls her eyes but then she does speak up: “Well... As you know, it’s my eighteenth birthday tomorrow. My mom took the day off, so I will spend it with my family. And as I have enough stuff going on afterwards, I thought maybe we could all meet up this evening for something to eat to... celebrate or whatever.”  
Okay. Tori has just been invited to Jade’s birthday party. Or something alike. Wow.  
Cat excitedly claps her hand. “Yay. I have time for that. Where will we go?”  
“I haven’t decided yet,” Jade says with a shrug. “Whatever I feel like then. Probably some sushi place. Nothing too expensieve but I would invite you.”  
“Well, I’m always up for some free food,” Andre claims and Robbie says: “I’m also on board.”  
“I will put on a suit,” Rex says and Jade glares at him: “You are not invited.”  
“What?” Rex asks, sounding offended but Jade already lets her gaze wander over to Tori while she says uninterested: “I guess you are.”  
“Thank you so much,” Tori answers sarcastically though she is pretty sure that that is the best she can get out of Jade – an ‘I guess you can come’ invitation. And honestly she adds: “I will love to be there.”  
“Fine,” Jade says as if someone has just enforced that birthday dinner upon her. Beck smiles though as he puts his arm around her and maybe, there is a small smile on Jade’s lips as well as they turn to each other for a kiss.

They do meet at a sushi place. Robbie hasn’t brought Rex like he was told. But Benji is of course with Jade and Beck. He sits on a high chair between them and they both feed him things from their plates while they all talk.  
Of course, the new principle is again topic number one and when they’re almost finished eating, Tori finally asks the others what they plan to do for their reauditions. She has already talked to Andre about doing something together as they do love to make music together in any case and Tori would feel much more comfortable with someone else around.  
Beck now says something about a dramatic monologue while Robbie wants to do comedy (everyone shares a glance at that but Tori does know that Robbie is talented in a lot of ways and maybe they just don’t know much about him being a comedian though he totally is). Cat meanwhile seems to want to do pretty much everything and Jade says she has already written a script for it which she wants to direct, film and star in.  
“I just need some young boy for the other role,” she says. “Sadly, Jasper is too old for that role and Benji too young.”  
She runs her fingers through Benji’s hair. Benji beams at her and Beck pulls him with a smile out of his high chair and onto his lap. “N’aw,” he says as if he has just gotten to know though Tori is sure that Jade and Beck must’ve talked about their plans for the reaudition before. Especially as Jade has already written the script for hers and Beck and Jade usually spend most of their time outside of school together, with each other and their son. “You would’ve loved to be in Mommy’s movie, right?”  
“Yes!” the boy instantly says and Tori has to smile. Of course, all of them are now captured by Benji again (very much like they have been when they have all arrived and have all happily greeted him after also not having seen him for more than two weeks).  
Cat now leans forward and asks him: “You know what day it is tomorrow, Benji?” She doesn’t give him the chance to answer but he looks at Cat interested as she says: “It’s your mommy’s birthday!”  
Beck rubs the boy’s belly. “Can you say ‘birthday’?”  
Benji babbles something that only means ‘birthday’ with a lot of fantasy. Jade smirks: “He can’t.”  
“N’aw,” Cat says. “He won’t be able to wish you a happy birthday.” Well, that possibly is a little sad, on the other hand... It’s not like those words are that important. At least, Benji is with her for her birthday.  
Jade shrugs. “He can wish me a happy...” and she actually imitates pretty much exactly what he has said.  
Benji looks at her gleefully at that, which makes Robbie, Andre, Cat and Tori laugh while Beck smiling drops a kiss on Benji’s head and Jade reaches to him in front of the high chair, shortly touching his little arm with a small smile.  
“Will he sleep at your place for the night?” Tori then asks interested. Then, Jade would already wake up to her son on her birthday. Though she would have a calmer night probably if he would stay with Beck.  
Jade doesn’t seem interested in answering. Beck does instead: “He sure will. I will, too.”  
Jade and Beck share a smile and then a kiss which they manage over the high chair.  
Tori smiles as well. Of course, they will spend the night before Jade’s birthday together. Maybe, Beck will be the one to take care of Benji over this night while Jade can still wake up to her son in the morning.  
And it’s so crazy because Jade will turn eighteen. And she has a boyfriend for about three years and a son who is one and a half years old. With eighteen years of age. Tori can barely believe it though she’s also already so used to this situation.

They barely have time to talk more. The check comes and Jade does pay for all of them before they all leave for their homes.  
At the end of the week, everyone of them reauditions successfully.


	11. Tori Tortures Teacher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> So, I cut another episode here - or rather... I kind of kept it but as Trina isn't there, I put another storyline in. ;) It's the episode Who did it to Trina?, just so you know.  
> Enjoy!

The next Monday morning, Robbie and Cat approach Tori in front of her locker. They say they want her to sing back up to a weird song they have written. Tori isn’t sure she should do it – and has a good excuse ready as the first play she has written and is directing is coming up.  
It’s while she still listens to Robbie explaining about how they came up with the lyrics that Tori sees Beck coming into school. Without Jade. No. It can’t be that now one of Jade’s relatives has died, can it be? Are they living far away so that she would have to travel away for a funeral?  
Beck is pale and seems very distraught.  
As Tori stares at him walking up to his locker, Robbie stops talking and he and Cat both follow her gaze to Beck.  
They all exchange a look before they approach Beck who has opened his locker and doesn’t look up as they walk up to him.  
“Hey, what’s up?” Tori says.  
Andre approaches them at the same time, just arriving in school, and also immediately sees that there’s something wrong with Beck and reacts accordingly: “Whoa. What’s with you?”  
Beck looks up, to all of them, blinks, as Cat softly asks: “Where is Jade?”  
“Hospital,” Beck finally speaks up.  
Jade is in the hospital? That can’t be.  
“What?”Andre asks shocked.  
Beck quickly shakes his head: “Not because of her. Because of Benji.”  
Which doesn’t make it better at all. Benji is in the hospital?  
“No,” Cat instantly says and looks even more worried than Tori feels. It’s Robbie who asks: “What’s with him?”  
“Lung infection,” Beck shortly answers. “I don’t know.” He shrugs helplessly.  
“Is he... okay?” Tori carefully asks. He can’t be well if he’s in the hospital but... he will be fine, won’t he? Tori doesn’t know how dangerous lung infections are, especially with little kids.  
Beck doesn’t sound confident as he says: “The doctors say he will be.”  
“Can we visit him?” Cat asks.  
Beck looks at her for a long moment before he decides: “Not today.”  
Then he shuts his locker though he hasn’t put anything in or out of it. “I need to go to class,” he says and leaves them all standing there.  
Tori exchanges worried looks with Andre and Robbie while Cat looks after Beck sadly.

Beck isn’t really there the whole day. He sits in his classes as expected but talks even less than usual. They don’t see him at all during lunch and speculate if he has driven to the hospital or otherwise calls Jade in private or something. He’s back for his next class in any case.  
The next day, he isn’t as pale anymore. He comes in late and all of them wait in front of his locker to talk to him.  
“How’s Benji?” Cat asks as soon as Beck is close enough.  
“A little better,” Beck says. “The antibiotics seem to work.”  
Tori closes her eyes for a second. She hasn’t considered that Benji, who is still so small, has to take antibiotics. That sounds so serious. But well... He is in the hospital after all.  
And the fact that the antibiotics only seem to work now sounds like Benji hasn’t been in the hospital all that long by now. Tori wonders how soon after him getting there, Beck had to come to school yesterday.  
“Can we come visit him today?” Cat asks.  
Beck shakes his head: “I don’t think so. The doctors think he will only be in the hospital for one more night. Maybe you can visit him after that, when he’s home at Jade’s.”  
“Jade is still at the hospital?” Andre asks.  
That makes Beck nod. “Our parents pay for her being able to also stay with him during the night.” And bitter in a way Tori would have never imagined to hear him, he adds: “They don’t pay for me as I have to come to school anyway and they don’t think I will get enough sleep there with the nurses always checking up on him and everything.”  
“Why do you have to come to school at all?” Tori asks. Jade obviously doesn’t have to come. And Beck doesn’t look like he wants to be here at the moment.  
He sounds even more bitter as he answers: “They say I’ve just missed two weeks and shouldn’t miss anything else, especially as Jade is able to stay with Benji, so he isn’t alone.”  
“That doesn’t sound good,” Robbie says and Tori also thinks it’s bad that Beck has to come to school – and apparently mainly because he has just missed two weeks of school because of his grandfather’s death. It’s not like that has been his fault.  
“It’s not,” Beck agrees and then, finally, a little softer again: “But Jade is with him around the clock and will be at least until next week’s over, so at least there’s that.”

Tori can’t help but feel that it’s of no use at all to have Beck in school. He may not be as pale as the day before and he has said that Benji is better but he still doesn’t say anything more that day, stares at his phone all during class and seems totally zoned out by the time of their acting class with Sikowitz where Sikowitz says something to him and he doesn’t react at all. He again isn’t there for lunch and Tori thinks it would’ve been smarter to also give him at least three days off, while Benji would be in the hospital, but he’s in school instead.  
They wait for him on Wednesday again as well and this time, noone has to ask before Beck says with a light smile (before anyone can greet): “He will get out of the hospital today. I will take them home after school.”  
“Great,” Tori immediately says.  
And of course Cat has to ask again: “Can we come visit now?”  
Beck seems to consider for a second before he decides: “How about tomorrow? I will talk it over with Jade.”  
Everyone agrees. Tori has her final rehearsal tomorrow but she will arrange the time accordingly, as soon as she knows when they will be allowed to visit.

The next day Beck tells them they can come visit to Jade’s.  
“Just give me... two hours or something with them after school. But after that you can come.”  
They agree to go there in the late evening but before Benji will have to go to sleep. And they decide to drive there together, so they won’t each have to ring the door bell or something but can get inside in one go and also leave like that.  
Everyone of them has something with them. Tori has thought about it and has decided that she definitely should bring something when she’s visiting a sick child.  
Andre drives them to Jade’s house and it’s Jade herself who opens as they ring the door bell. She hasn’t got any make up on and wears something that doesn’t resemble her usual clothes and looks more like some plain pajamas.  
“Hey. Come in,” she directly says and Cat is the first to walk in but also directly attacks Jade with a hug.  
“I was so worried about Benji,” Cat says while the other three (and Rex) pass them.  
Jade lets Cat hug her though she rolls her eyes, and only pushes her away after a while before she closes the door. Then, she leads them upstairs, saying: “Benji’s in my room. Remember that he’s sick. Don’t squeal or clap or be too loud in any way.”  
Tori knows that Jade only means Cat with that and it’s Cat who answers confidently: “Of course.”  
“Yeah, right,” Jade says and Tori has to smile. Yes, she also thinks that she can’t really hope Cat to be quiet. But of course a warning is worth a try. And with Jade still letting her in and not actually threatening her with something bad in case she’s too loud, it won’t be absolutely necessary to be quiet. It will possibly help Benji if it’s not too loud but it can’t hurt him in any way if Cat is just Cat. Otherwise, Jade would talk about it differently.  
Tori hasn’t been into Jade’s room yet but it’s so obviously hers. It’s held pretty dark (even with baby stuff in it) and she has a butterfly collection hung on the wall which looks beautiful but also scary. There’s a big bed that fills quite a lot of the room. But there’re also cupboards, a door to a closet, a big chair, a coffee table and then of course a crib.  
Benji doesn’t lie in the crib though. Instead he lies in the middle of Jade’s bed. Further away from the door sits Beck next to him, running his fingers lazily through his son’s hair.  
And there’s Beck’s mother, sitting on the edge of the bed but standing up as all of them file inside.  
Everyone shares greetings and Benji looks happy to see all of them. He does look exhausted otherwise though. And undoubtedly there’s medication on Jade’s night stand and a towel, and some of Benji’s toys spread over the bed. The stuffed giraffe Tori knows by now he has gotten from Cat, lies right next to him.  
“I think I should go home then,” Mrs. Oliver says with a smile. “Do you still need anything?”  
“No,” Beck answers. “Thanks again for the healthy meal, Mom.”  
Mrs. Oliver nods: “Of course. Don’t forget to call if you need anything.”  
Jade sits down on Benji’s side closer to the door as she actually says an earnest “thanks” to Mrs. Oliver, whose smile widens as she first leans down dropping a kiss on Beck’s head, then even further to drop another one on Benji’s head before she says: “Be well.”  
“Well,” the boy repeats and Beck tells him smiling: “Say bye-bye to Granny.”  
“Bye-bye, Granny,” Benji says and even waves which Mrs. Oliver returns while she fleetingly touches Jade on her shoulder, passes Tori and the others, also nods a good-bye to them and then leaves.  
Finally, Cat approaches the bed, sits down on it on her knees, right in front of Benji, and holding up the bright get-well-card she made.  
“Look what I brought you, Benji,” she says in a surprisingly soft and quiet voice.  
Benji sits up and Beck pulls him back slightly as Jade puts one of the pillows behind him, so that the boy can lean with it against the headboard while sitting.  
Benji takes the card and it’s almost as if he was able to read it or something, the way he opens it and looks into it. But he’s probably just looking at all the stickers and drawings Cat has put into the card. Cat showed Tori the card before, so Tori knows what Benji is looking at now, which colors and pictures.  
“See, I’ve written into it,” Cat says, leaning over Benji to also look into the card. She puts her finger onto it while she reads: “’Get well soon, little Benji. We love you.’ And here are pictures from nice food and toys and everything.”  
“Balloon,” Benji squeals as he sees one as a picture inside the card.  
“I should’ve brought real balloons,” Cat immediately says, almost sad as if she considers her card as a bad present now.  
Jade, who has, like Beck, leaned a little into Benji to look at the card Benji is holding, has raised her eyebrows at the card as if she can’t believe something like that is inside of her room. Now, she says: “I would’ve instantly used my scissors on a balloon.”  
Cat looks at her offended while Beck runs his hand through Benji’s hair and says: “That’s a nice card. Do you like it, Benji?”  
The boy nods and Beck asks: “Can you say thank you to Cat?”  
“Thank you, Cat,” Benji answer, of course not clearly, but all of them do understand, as he looks up to Cat brightly, who instantly smiles again: “N’aw. Your welcome, Benji.”  
Tori also wants to explain her present but then, Rex pipes up: “I brought this book.”  
“You want to give that to Benji?” Robbie asks, almost sounding shocked which makes all of them turn to them confused.  
Rex looks at Robbie who holds both a book and a cassette in the hand with which he doesn’t move Rex, and says dryly: “Yes. Why?”  
“It was my favorite childhood book,” Robbie says and Rex answers: “So? You’re grown-up now. Benji needs it more than you.”  
Robbie doesn’t look happy but then turns to Benji and also walks closer to him. “I guess he’s right and you can have it, Benji. And this cassette is from me. I always loved listening to it when I was sick. Hope you also like it.”  
He hands the old book and the cassette to Benji and Beck helps him take it while Jade takes the card out of his hand and lies it down next to him.  
Tori notices that Robbie is effectively having two present for Benji. Two things he loves very much himself and he may struggle to give away but which he does give to little Benji.  
“Do you still have that old cassette player somewhere?” Beck asks Jade while he looks at the cassette and the book with Benji also grabbing both.  
Jade nods: “I think so.”  
Beck addresses Benji again: “Then I guess you can listen to that cassette later and we can read this book together. That’s great, huh? Say thank you to Robbie and Rex.”  
“Thank you,” Benji says again, looking up to Robbie happily, but Jade rolls her eyes: “He’s not supposed to be a trained monkey. You shouldn’t always make him say thank you.”  
“I just want him to be polite,” Beck says as he puts book and cassette to his side.  
Jade huffs. “He should be honest, not polite. If he doesn’t feel like thanking anyone, he shouldn’t have to.”  
Beck shrugs. “But he’s too young to feel the need yet to say thank you. I’m helping him to know when it’s normal.”  
“I don’t want our child to be some normal dumbo,” Jade decides.  
Beck seems more amused than angry at that. Well, Tori guesses it’s also not like Jade never wants Beck to make Benji say ‘thank you’ or something. She has just said he shouldn’t ‘always’ do it. And she also hasn’t said it meanly or as if her opinion on it was the only way to go.  
Naturally, Beck is relaxed about it and now looks at his friends with a smile: “I guess I’m thanking you then. For myself, Benji and Jade for your visit and all those presents. Because I do mean it and I know, deep down they do too.”  
Jade rolls her eyes but it’s not like she objects to that.  
Tori decides it’s time for her to chime in and finally give them her present. “I brought you powder for Belgian cocoa. I bet that’s good for you if you’re sick. Maybe, all three of you can drink some together. It tastes really good.”  
Beck takes it and looks at it with a smile. “That does sound good. We will drink it while we’re listening to that cassete and are reading that book.”  
He puts it exactly onto those things as Andre finally steps up and hands Benji a stuffed lion. “I saw this a few days ealier and thought you might like it. You obviously don’t like bears that much but tigers more and of course your giraffe. So...”  
Tori also knows that Benji has a stuffed tiger as well he likes very much (and that lies in his crib here right now) but that of course he likes his giraffe best.  
Now, he takes the lion though, that’s almost as big as him, and hugs it tight. He babbles a word and Jade tells him: “It’s a lion, baby. A lion.”  
“Lion,” Benji repeats and Beck smiles: “Yeah, lion.”  
Only then, Beck turns to his friends again: “How about you all sit down for a while? I don’t know if you all fit somewhere or if we should still get some chairs?”  
They do fit this way. Andre and Robbie pull the big chair to the bed and squeeze down together on it while Tori also sits down on the bed next to Cat.  
“How is he?” Cat now asks and Beck answers: “Much better. We still have to be careful and he still has to take his medication. And of course he’s still on strict bedrest which isn’t easy for a kid his age. But he will get through it.”  
Beck does look much more relaxed than those last days in school. Though now, he also is with Benji, can watch over him himself, can see how well he is at any second. It’s only after the weekend that he also is relaxed in school again while Jade still stays home with Benji.  
“So, what happened anyway?” Tori finally dares to ask. None of them has asked Beck before, because he has looked worried enough and they somehow haven’t wanted him to tell them the whole story.  
Beck also doesn’t answer now. Instead, he looks to Jade, who runs her fingers through Benji’s hair while she slowly answers: “Well, Benji has had a cold last week which isn’t unusual. Like... You know, kids always have something like a cold or gas or a fever because their teeth are coming or whatever. But I woke up at 5am or something on Monday and realized Benji’s breathing was weird.”  
Tori wonders if Jade woke up because of that, because Benji’s breathing changed, or if she woke up by accident and then just noticed the change. Well... She is a mother and it is her child’s breathing which is why she can imagine her instinctively waking up because of the change.  
Jade continues: “It sounded bad and I called my mom, who then called the ambulance, while I called Beck. The paramedics immediately decided to take him to the hospital and Beck arrived just in time to get into the ambulance with me and Benji and we got to the hospital. My mom followed us after dropping Jasper off with our grandparents. Beck called his parents from the hospital while we waited for news on Benji. We didn’t have to wait long. They told us that it’s a lung infection and that Benji would have to stay there for a few days, so they could watch him.”  
Beck nods, has looked almost with empty eyes to Benji who hits his new stuffed lion on the bed. “Jade and I were both allowed to stay with him at first. Our parents called the school as soon as possible and they decided I shouldn’t get time off again, so I had to get to school immediately.”  
He still looks bitter about that and... guilty. As if he feels guilty about not being able to stay with Benji despite him lying sick in the hospital.  
Tori sees Jade casually taking his hand in hers in Benji’s lap as she says matter-of-factly: “Benji was fine anyway. You’ve been bored in the hospital. I certainly was.”  
Beck shoots her a weak smile and Tori understands that Jade gets how Beck is feeling and tries everything to make that feeling go away. She doesn’t want him to feel bad or guilty about the situation. She doesn’t want him to keep worrying which he certainly still is.  
Tori suddenly asks herself how the call between them went that night, how desperate Jade must have sounded while her mother has called the ambulance because of their son. She wonders if Beck can still hear her and if that’s why he stares at his phone so emptily in school, also worried she will call again and tell him it has gotten worse again.  
Tori feels a little cold at the thought but Andre already tries to distract: “I bet Benji also was bored like hell. And now being on bed rest? Poor child.”  
“It’s good that Robbie and Rex brought him something to do,” Cat says and Beck nods: “That is good.”  
“He definitely is going crazy here,” Jade agrees. “It wasn’t so bad in the hospital because he wasn’t feeling well anyway and was too exhausted to run around or something. But as he gets better but not good enough to be allowed up all that much, it does get bad. And he barely sleeps at night as he’s mostly in bed anyway and sleeps over the whole day.”  
Benji sighs, probably because he’s exhausted from hitting that lion on the bed the whole time through, and leans heavily against the pillow behind him. Beck ruffles his hair with a smile: “Yeah, we’re talking about you, baby. You should let your mommy sleep more again, huh?”  
Benji nods with an earnest look in his eye which makes Tori smile.  
She has to ask though: “Will Benji stay here around the clock until he’s better again?” After all, usually he changes between Jade’s and Beck’s home.  
Jade answers: “Yeah. I’m home anyway and can get up at night. As he’s sick we also thought it wouldn’t be too good to move him around all that much.”  
Beck continues: “And this way, there are always two people to look after Benji. Jade and her mother in the mornings and Jade and me in the afternoons. And of course my parents each come by every now and then.”  
Tori guesses it is smart to have two people around. That way, one person can take care of food or similiar things while the other one still has their full attention on the sick child.  
“That sounds like Benji is very well cared for,” Andre says with a smile and that’s also the exact moment, the door bell rings.  
“Bell,” Benji says, suddenly throwing the stuffed lion away and standing up on the bed as if to go to open the door.  
“You wanna open the door?” Beck asks with a smile, holding the little boy before he can walk off the bed and fall.  
Jade meanwhile stands up and says: “You should stay in bed.”  
Beck shrugs and asks the little boy: “How about we open the door together and you can get out of bed for a few seconds for that?”  
He raises his gaze to look to Jade and silently check with her if that’s okay. She shrugs as well which must mean agreement and Beck stands up as well, pulling Benji into his arms.  
Andre stands up in the same move with everyone else shortly following after. Andre says: “Maybe, we can leave now anyway. We just wanted to check on Benji and he seems fine, right?”  
He looks around through the group of friends and Tori agrees. She doesn’t want to disturb them any longer, especially if Benji needs calmness. And who knows who’s coming? Maybe some more relatives and then it would get too crowded in any case, so...  
Robbie, Rex and Cat agree as well and Jade shrugs before she leaves the room first with everyone else following, the bell ringing again at the same time. “Coming,” Jade calls out annoyed.  
Cat giggles as they go downstairs. “This will look so weird for whoever is in front of that door.”  
It sure will. All of them standing in front of the door? Though the friends do file a little into the living room while Beck waits at the bottom of the stairs with Benji in his arms. They all are able to see the front door though which Jade opens.  
An old couple is standing in front of it, about to ring the bell again apparently. Now, they both smile kindly as the woman says: “Hello, Jade.”  
“Hey,” Jade answers. “What are you doing here?” She sounds irritated seeing them here.  
“We wanted to check on our great-grandchild of course,” the man says and... oh. They must be Jade’s grandparents. They do look like her a little.  
“We have a right to see him, you know?” Jade’s grandmother says.  
Jade doesn’t step aside to let them in though. Instead: “Yeah, and I told you I would come visit you some time next week when he’s better.”  
Both grandparents already look past her and her grandmother promptly says: “He looks better. Hello, Benjamin.” He smiles at the young boy who promptly waves back. A lot colder, Jade’s grandmother adds: “Beck.”  
Beck nods and only then the woman also turns to Tori, Robbie, Andre and Cat. “And everyone else.”  
They greet awkwardly and Tori suddenly remembers Beck telling her that Jade’s grandparents don’t like him as he has impregnated her. Well... She can see that dislike now which is so weird because she has never ever seen anyone dislike Beck. But clearly they have a problem with him. It’s possible to notice by the way they look at him alone and how Jade’s grandmother said his name.  
“Why can they visit but we can’t?” Jade’s grandmother now asks, turning back to Jade but indicating Tori and the others. Well, that’s a fair question. Tori also would feel bad if she wouldn’t get to visit a close relative while their friends would.  
Jade answers coldly though: “You already came to the hospital and saw that he was fine.”  
“But we want to make sure you’re okay with Benjamin sick and Caitlyn not around but working,” her grandfather says and Jade rolls her eyes: “I’m taking care of him alone all the time. He is my son.” Tori also remembers that Benji couldn’t stay with Jade not even a month ago but had to go to Canada instead as also her grandparents weren’t ready to take care of Benji every morning. Of course they also could still work but they look old enough to not work anymore and it’s weird that they now want to check if Jade is doing okay if they otherwise aren’t ready to really take care of Benji and Jade themselves.  
“We also wanted to make sure his father is coming to visit at all,” her grandmother adds, shooting a look to Beck. “After he wasn’t in the hospital.”  
Wow, okay. Really?  
Tori glances to Beck who doesn’t pull a face and instead runs his hand over Benji’s back soothingly. Benji meanwhile does look like he’s not happy at all, glancing between his parents and great-grandparents.  
Jade doesn’t look in their direction but harshly answers: “You were there in the morning on purpose to not run into him. You know he had to go to school. Now, leave.” It’s almost as she has only waited for them to make such a comment. As if that’s the reason she has been hostile to them at all right from the moment she has opened the door.  
Tori wonders if they always comment like that on Beck.  
Jade must glare at her grandparents but they don’t seem intimidated. Instead, her grandmother now asks her: “Has your father been visiting at all to see his grandchild?”  
“He has,” Jade says and by now, Benji gets uneasy in Beck’s arms. “Now, really, leave.”  
She is about to close the door but her grandfather stops her and warns: “We will tell your mother how you treated us.”  
“Knock yourself out,” she answers and does close the door in front of their faces after that. She locks it before she turns around and rolls her eyes.  
“Ugh. They can be so annoying,” she says, walking up to Beck and Benji, dropping a kiss on Benji’s head who instantly quiets down again.  
“They just wanted to check up on Benji. They are worried too,” Beck says calmly.  
“You know that’s not true,” Jade answers. “They wanted to check up on you. Honestly! I should stop letting them see Benji altogether.”  
Beck now rubs her back. “You can’t do that. They are your mom’s parents. And they are good great-grandparents for Benji. You know... Unless I’m around.”  
He smiles lightly and it makes Jade smirk as well. They share a brief kiss, then Jade comments: “I still think they’re dumb. I do remember how much they loved you when they first met you.”  
Beck’s smile gets wider. “Well, they probably thought I would be that kind of guy that could keep you out of trouble. Instead, I got you pregnant.”  
Jade snorts. “Like I wasn’t involved in that at all.”  
They share another kiss and Tori probably wouldn’t have said anything at all unless one of them would have adressed them again. She feels already awkward and as if this whole almost-visit by Jade’s grandparents and Jade and Beck’s talk after that was something she never should’ve witnessed, something private that especially Jade wouldn’t have wanted anyone to see. To pull their attention to their friends then...  
But Cat suddenly pipes up with a tilted head: “Has your father been visiting?”  
Huh, that’s a good question. Tori has no idea if Jade’s father really has visited his sick grandson. Jade has claimed so but she has done that in front of her grandparents who possibly dislike Jade’s father as much as Benji’s – though Tori would never understand how you could put Beck and Mr. West on the same page.  
“He has,” Jade answers, not harshly at all anymore. “He was in the hospital as well.”  
“Good,” Cat decides and the others nod while Jade walks back to the door, peeks through the window next to it and then says: “Well, I think they’re gone, so you can now leave as well.”  
They all tell Benji to get better quickly and that they will see him soon again, then they leave.

 

The teachers are supposed to send Jade the homework and the material from class but the friends still make sure to get notes to her for all classes through Beck after Beck asks them to.  
“I was fine with knowing about the homework in Canada but Jade wants to keep up completely, so...” he says.  
Tori’s play on Friday is a success and the next week is crazy again with Sikowitz’ tenth teaching anniversary and Tori wanting to get him a present which fails – until she finds out it hasn’t failed at all. They don’t visit Benji again as a group (Cat does visit him as far as Tori knows) but of course Beck keeps them updated.  
And actually, he text fights again with Jade during that second week. They sometimes do that; Tori has also already seen them at it. Amazingly, they still sit close when they do that, touch like usual. They just fight over text and comment every now and then loudly on it.  
Now, Beck just violently types stuff into his phone and just tells them to stay out of his business when they first ask him about it. It’s Cat who tells them that Beck and Jade are text fighting again.  
Tori first thinks it’s weird and wrong. After all, Beck still wants to be informed about Benji, doesn’t he? But she finds out that he still gets informed, that Jade texts him about their son from time to time between all their mean texts. It’s weird to see on Wednesday’s lunch where he pulls out his phone angrily as he gets a text, obviously expecting their fight to continue, but then his face softening as he reads the text, only to get angry again about ten minutes later after Jade’s next text which must have been an insult again or something.  
In the end, Tori considers it not too dumb to text fight especially as they are very much able to behave normally around each other otherwise, even if they do text fight. She often thinks that fighting is some sort of important outlet for both Jade and Beck, and with worrying about Benji and everything... Maybe, they just need to fight and this way, over text, they at least don’t do it in front of their son and both can be with him in the afternoons and the evenings at the same time.  
On the next Monday, Jade is back in school and Beck and she are very close with each other again. Benji apparently still has to take a little medication but it doesn’t take much longer for him to get completely healthy.


	12. Jade Gets Crushed, Terror on Cupcake Street and A Christmas Tori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!  
> So, we'll have the next three episodes here. After this, it would be Blooptorious which I (naturally) cut, so we will get into season 3 in the next chapter.  
> Beck really talks and talks a lot in this chapter. I think it's the worst one yet (regarding the talking) and I hope so much it really isn't too out of character. The thing is... I will also let him explain quite a lot in The Breakfast Bunch, which is the starting episode for the next chapter. So... A lot of talking coming up.  
> Hope you can still enjoy!

It’s still on that Monday where Jade is finally back that Tori gets to know that she will have to write and pass the Tech Theater exam this semester to be able to take the course she wants the next semester. She hasn’t been in that class and there’s so much to learn, so she decides she can’t sing Andre’s song for him because of lack of time.  
At lunch, Andre still considers whom to ask to sing it, when Beck sits down with him and Tori. He has a small book in his hand and of course Tori directly curiously asks: “What’s that?”  
“Photos for my photography class,” Beck answers and as Tori pulls a confused face, he explains: “We had to hand in photos we once made and considered good at the beginning of semester. We analyzed them a bit, looked at what made us like them and stuff and our teacher kept them. He finally gave them back.”  
“Cool,” Tori says. “Can I take a look?”  
“Sure,” Beck says and hands her the book, in which he has apparently put the photos to keep them safely together.  
Tori turns the first page to find a picture of Jade in front of a beautiful landscape, walking in front of Beck apparently, her at the side of the picture, her face slightly turned back to Beck, the rest of the picture full of beautiful nature with the sun shining just the right way that makes Jade look absolutely stunning.  
“Wow. Where did you take that?” Tori asks and Beck smiles: “In Canada. It was the first time she was there with me, after we were together for a few months.”  
She does look rather young in the picture. But she als does on the next picture. As Tori turns the page, she finds Jade again, now sitting on Beck’s bed in the RV. The picture is held in black and white. Jade’s eyes still look piercing. And Jade is actually about... eight months pregnant or something.  
Tori looks closer, looks into Jade’s face that looks so much younger than nowadays – not that she looks old now but she must be sixteen in this picture and she almost still looks a little child-like. Though she already does have her piercings.  
It does look incredible to see this young pregnant girl, looking straight into the camera, both her hands on her pregnant belly.  
"This is amazing," Tori says. "Her eyes come out great."  
"Right?" Beck says with a smile. "She is actually glaring at me because I annoyed her with the camera. But that just makes her look like the strong girl she is."  
Yeah, 'strong' is probably also the word, Tori would have attached to Jade on this picture. This pregnant girl does look strong and if noone should mess with her or with her child. Which is incredible.  
Tori turns the page again and sees Jade another time. She sits on Beck’s bed again, but this time, a small baby lies in her arms. Tori isn’t sure if Jade has even noticed this picture being taken. She looks into the baby’s face with the softest smile. Benji must barely be a few days old and lies in his mother’s arms with closed eyes. Tori can't help but smile herself.  
The next photo shows a small baby’s hand very close up with two rings in it that are attached to necklaces. Tori knows those. “Your ring necklaces.”  
“Uhu,” Beck confirms.  
Tori looks up to him curiously: “Did you get them to Benji’s birth?”  
“No,” Beck answers. “I got them for us for our first anniversary. Jade already was pregnant with Benji then.”  
“What about your other necklaces?” Tori asks further and Beck takes the J-necklace, he wears right now, between his fingers and shows it as he answers: “I got this after we barely got together. She got us our key- and lock-necklaces about a year ago.”  
“Without occasion?” Tori wants to knows and Beck nods: “Yeah. She makes gifts like that.”  
Tori turns back to the small book with a smile and looks at the last photo. It shows Benji alone, ten months old at his first Christmas apparently. He sits in a box in front of a Christmas tree with the brightest smile.  
“Aw,” Tori says.  
She closes the book again and gives it back to Beck. “These really are good.”  
“Thanks,” Beck says and Andre, who has looked at the photos as well over Tori’s shoulder, says: “I notice those all show Jade or Benji or both of them.”  
Beck grins. “Well. Those two are the best subjects.”  
“What’s the best subject?” That’s Jade who has arrived at the table with Robbie.  
“You and our lovely little son,” Beck answers before they share a short kiss as Jade sits down next to him. “For photography. I finally got these back.”  
He shows her the book and she nods as a sign of recognition. She doesn’t say anything more though and Andre takes the chance to get back to his topic of concern: “Anyway... I still need a girl to sing my song. It’s due Thursday. I wanted to record it tomorrow after school.”  
“Why don’t you do it?” Beck asks Tori and Tori explains about the Tech Theater exam.  
“I’ll help her learn,” Robbie says proudly. Tori isn’t sure how well that will go but anyway...  
“And I still need someone,” Andre says miserably.  
“Why doesn’t Jade do it?” Beck suddenly asks.  
Tori raises her eyebrows surprised. Jade?  
“What?” Andre also asks unsure and Beck nods: “Yeah, sure.” He turns to her: “You could use a little more time off of Benji, couldn’t you? You could finally get your mind off of him if you would be out working on a song. And after taking care of him around the clock over the last two weeks...”  
Jade shrugs. “Sure. Why not?”  
She actually agrees to help Andre out. Tori can barely believe it. Andre apparently can’t either: “Well... That would be great. I’m still not finished with the song though. It could take a while.”  
“That’s fine,” Jade says and Andre obviously can’t think of another reason to discourage her from doing it, so he says: “Well, okay then. Thanks.”  
That’s the moment they hear Cat giggling elated and suddenly, she is next to their table on those weird new Jupiter boots she has.  
“Look! Isn’t this amazing?” she asks excitedely and Tori wants to finally turn back to her food, just ignore Cat, when Jade harshly says to Cat: “Those better not be from Sky Store.”  
Cat’s eyes widen. “They are not. I promise.”  
She looks postively worried and Tori also remembers the promise Jade and Cat have made about Cat never ordering from Sky Store again and in turn being allowed to dress up as Santa for Benji.  
“Good,” Jade just answers, already digging into her own lunch uninterested.

It’s 3am on Wednesday when Tori’s phone wakes her up. She gets message after message from Andre and then finds him in front of her house.  
She lets him in. He seems totally distraught, wants a cocoa which Tori denies him at first until he utters the words: “I think I’m in love with Jade.”  
Okay, so she does go make both of them cocoa, while she asks what has happened. Andre talks about how they worked all day on his song and how he saw her sing and she looked so pretty and sweet and... gosh. He can’t be in love with Jade!  
“Like I don’t know that!” he says as she tells him so. “Beck is one of my best friends! I would never try to move in on a friend’s girl. Heck, he has a child with her!”  
Which is true. If Andre would go after Jade, he could very well break up someone’s parents. Even if Jade wouldn’t go for him, it could make Beck and Jade fight or something.  
“Good,” Tori says, glad that Andre also realizes that he can’t act on this. “So just forget about this.”  
Andre claims he can’t though because he always has to let out whatever he feels or else he get’s wonky in the head. Sure enough, Andre is someone who has his heart on his sleeve.  
But he can’t act on this and... who even says he really is in love with Jade? Why should he be? He already knows her for so long and suddenly he is in love?  
“I don’t think you’re in love with Jade,” she gently says.  
“You don’t?” Andre asks almost hopefully.  
“No,” Tori replies honestly. “You guys were just there, together, alone, late... And you were tired.”  
“Yeah, we were tired. That’s true,” Andre immediately agrees and Tori continues: “And you were writing a song, so you felt emotional.”  
“Uhu. I did,” Andre nods and Tori tries to soothe him even more: “And you said you saw her sing, so you saw her vulnerable, too.” And Andre is that type of guy who wants to protect a girl. Maybe, he mixes up that feeling with being in love.  
But Andre shakes his head now: “I saw her vulnerable before though.” For a second, Tori wants to cut in and ask when – because she certainly hasn’t seen Jade vulnerable by now. But then she remembers Andre’s stories about Jade crying all the time when she was pregnant and right after. She remembers that he has told her how she shamelessly cried in front of him that one time. Well... She certainly has been vulnerable then.  
Andre already continues anyway: “And... That’s the thing. I even think I have been in love with her for years and for some reason I have just realized it today.”  
“No,” Tori quickly says while Andre makes suffering noises. “No, no, no.”  
And desperately, Andre asks: “What do I do, Tori? What do I do?”  
“Come on, Andre,” Tori says, rubbing his arm in an attempt to calm him down again. “Everything’s okay. You are not in love with Jade. If you would’ve been for years, you certainly would’ve realized it sooner.”  
“I would have?” Andre tentatively asks.  
“I’m sure,” Tori nods. “You just felt lyrics for a love song and projected that onto Jade who was right there. By tomorrow, you’ll be fine again.”  
Andre takes a deep breath before he says: “Yeah. I bet I will be.”  
Tori nods again and they both finally take a sip of the cocoa Tori has made.  
“This cocoa is good,” Andre says and Tori smiles: “It’s from Belgium.”  
“Oh, that’s the one you’ve given Benji?” Andre remembers their visit to the young boy when he was sick.  
“Right,” Tori confirms and Andre leans back onto the couch, finally really calm again. “It’s really good.”

Andre doesn’t stay much longer. He just finishes the drink, then he finally goes home and Tori gets to bed to catch at least a little bit more sleep.  
The next day in school, she of course checks if Andre is fine again. But as Jade and Beck walk up to them, it’s obvious that Andre isn’t fine at all. It does look as if he’s in love with Jade. He has at least obsessed about it the rest of the night and now feels as if he’s in love with her.  
Of course, Tori tries to think of something to help Andre and ends up inviting him to her house while she dresses up and acts like Jade. Because yes, she may be able to be sweet and gentle, while singing or while taking care of her son, but she generally isn’t. She is rough and mean and harsh and stubborn and Andre wouldn’t fall for a girl like that, would he? Beck obviously has but Andre? Maybe, he just needs to be reminded of the way, Jade so often behaves, what he would have to handle if he would ever be in a relationship with her.  
But it’s not working. Andre actually tries to kiss her while she tries to imitate Jade’s harsh comments.  
She pushes him away, falling out of her role and calling him out for it. It’s only then that he confesses that last night, he has even written a song for Jade.  
“You wrote her a song? That’s so sweet,” Tori can’t help but say. She wishes a guy would do that for her.  
“It’s evil!” Andre immediately says though, standing up and walking over from the couch to the kitchen table. “She’s Beck’s girlfriend! They have a child together!”  
But that’s the moment Tori gets an idea. If he has written a song about her, he has expressed his feelings in it. So, he just have to sing her the song which Andre claims he can’t do because she would know it is about her, as would Beck, as her name is in it like ten times.  
“So just change all the ‘Jade’s to ‘baby’,” she suggests and Andre nods: “Baby. Yeah. Baby could be anybody.”  
“Uhu,” she answers and asks, as she thinks when to do it: “Do you know if Jade will be at the Friday night concert?”  
“Beck told me they would come,” Andre says. “Benji will be with his parents and his grandmother who’s visiting. Gosh, Benji. They have Benji together!”  
Tori puts her hand on his arm again to calm him down. “Come on, Andre. You will sing your song tomorrow night at school at that concert. Jade will be there. You can sing her your song and she’ll never even know it’s for her.”  
Andre says he doesn’t know if he can do it as he’s feeling very emotional. But he agrees when Tori suggests to sing it with him.

It works. Jade and Beck don’t seem to be any wiser while Andre claims he’s over it after they have sang it and another girl has approached him because she has liked the song. Tori isn’t sure it’s that easy but Andre never mentions it again, so maybe it is.

 

Beck has another small role in a movie which is amazing. And suddenly, he is allowed time off of school again which Tori doesn’t feel as exactly right. After all, the school denied it for him when Benji was seriously sick. But well... Better this way than the school also denying him a few classes off now.  
So, he has a brief fitting one morning and is supposed to film a scene that same evening and then actually a second scene the next morning.  
That’s the reason he isn’t in school when Sikowitz calls their group of friends back and tells them about some parade parade he wants them to build a float for and perform for. Jade instantly leaves and it’s not like the others want to do it at all – until Sikowitz tells them they will be on national television. Well... Of course they agree to that.  
They meet up at Tori’s to think of a float and Trina of course overhears them and promptly wants to be part of it what they deny her. It’s when she leaves that she runs into Jade and Benji, who sits in his mother’s arms.  
Jade calls out a really bad word afterwards and then tells Tori harshly, as she walks in: “Your dumb sister nearly hit my son.”  
“Poor Benji,” Cat instantly says. “Are you okay?”  
She’s obviously in the process of getting up to come check on Benji but Jade looks darkly at her and says: “He’s fine.” And that definitely says that she doesn’t want them to check, as she sits down. Well, he does look fine, doesn’t cry or anything but waves with a smile to all of them as he looks around from Jade’s lap.  
Okay, Tori always loves having Benji over but... “I’m sorry, did someone invite you here?” she can’t help but ask.  
“Beck told me you guys are performing on national TV,” Jade answers. Beck must have just told her, as angry as she seems about it. Tori would’ve guessed he is already on set again but probably, he has told her right before he has driven away – and she has gotten on her way here.  
Of course, they have told Beck when he came to school after lunch. And they have invited him to join them which he has agreed to with the condition he could arrange it with Benji. Well, naturally he told Jade then, Tori thinks. But Jade has walked out of Sikowitz’ class as they now remind her. Or Andre does, quickly adding after Jade’s glare: “I feel that Jade should be included.”  
Well, whatever. Probably, Beck also couldn’t or wouldn’t come if they wouldn’t let Jade. And they are all friends and always have a good time if they’re all together.  
So, nobody says anything more about it, instead they think about who should pick the topic of their float and Robbie decides to use an app for it. The app lands on Cat who gets crazy excited about it but tells them she will work it fully out to present the idea to them tomorrow. Jade already predicts: “We will regret that. Whatever. I’ll go back home.”  
With that, Jade and Benji are gone again.

Cat decides on a cupcake as a float. Gosh. But they agreed on it, so...  
Benji is with them while they build their float. Jade gets him after school and of course he’s in the way every now and then but noone cares much as he’s still the most adorable kid ever.  
Cat of course also has costumes ready for them and gives Andre and Beck theirs first to change. As they come back with crossed arms, Benji instantly squeals: “Daddy! Funny!”  
They certainly do look funny in those candy jammies but Tori already dreads the thought a little that she will have to wear one of those as well.  
While Beck and Andre of course also critize, Jade picks up Benji, looking at the two boys gleefully. “They look adorable.”  
Tori reminds her: “You know, she wants us all to wear them.”  
Apparently, Jade has forgotten that and turns back to Cat with a dead-pan stare: “I will pop your head like a zit.”  
Luckily, they get interrupted by Sikowitz at that, who takes Benji out of Jade’s arms as if he was his, but Jade also lets it happen. And then of course their teacher also laughs at Beck and Andre in those jammies. Well...  
It’s after Jade, Tori and Cat have also changed into those pajamas (with Robbie being next) that Cat pulls out a small version of it. “I also got some for Benji.”  
Jade instantly glares at Cat again. “He won’t ever wear those.”  
“But he needs them for the parade,” Cat says with a pout and Jade rolls her eyes while Beck says: “Benji isn’t going to come with us. My dad will pick him up soon and he will stay with my parents while we’re at the parade.”  
“N’aw. I would’ve liked him there,” Cat says but Jade rolls her eyes again: “Yeah, well...”  
It truly doesn’t take long after that for Beck’s dad to come pick up Benji.  
“Will you come home somewhere during the night?” Tori hears Mr. Oliver ask outside of the float where Beck and Jade are standing with him and Benji.  
“We don’t know yet,” she hears Beck answers. “The way it looks right now, we will have to work on this thing the whole night and will have to get going right way. We’ll text when we start driving there, yes?”  
“That would be good. And text when you know when exactly you’ll be back,” Mr. Oliver says and after a “sure” by Beck, he adds: “Most importantly though: Have fun.”  
“Yeah, right,” Jade makes before she apparently turns to Benji: “Go to Pop, baby. Have a good evening and night, huh? See you soon.”  
“Bye-bye, baby,” Beck also says. “Sleep well. We love you.”

They really work on the cupcake float until they have to get going. And they move extremely slow until they don’t move at all anymore. They have a flat tire and that in the worst place possible. Sikowitz promises to get someone to fix it but he doesn’t come back. And suddenly, they also don’t have a signal anymore which Jade and Beck both get slightly angry about as Beck’s parents wouldn’t be able to reach them in an emergency with Benji. Tori wants to say for a second that it’s the middle of the night and the risk of anything happening to Benji is so low at that time of day – then she remembers that Jade also noticed Benji’s lung infection in the middle of the night.  
Well... They have to get away from here in either case and Tori finally asks Beck and Andre to go look for Sikowitz and help in general.  
They do go, though Jade wants Tori instead to leave their float. And after the guys are also away for some time without them hearing anything from them, Cat anxiously says: “I hope nothing happened to them.”  
“I’m sure everything is okay,” Robbie says and Jade turns to Tori, glaring: “You made them leave. You could’ve also gone. Noone would need you while Beck is the father of a toddler. I swear if anything did happen to him, I’ll kill you.”  
Okay. Jade is certainly worried about Beck and it’s because of that that she threatens Tori like that. Tori thinks it’s unfair though – but she’s still feeling guilty at the same time and actually also leaves the float after that to find them, to make sure they’re okay.  
She instead finds some guys who are ready to change the tire and when she gets to the float, Beck and Andre are luckily back, looking a little dishelved but generally fine.  
And they get on their way after that, even Sikowitz joining them again who apparently also has had a rough time out in the streets.  
The parade goes fine and even in their cupcake float with candy pajamas on, they’re having great fun.

 

Sikowitz has even more ideas with them. He now wants them to give each other presents in their group of friends. Christmas is already close and they have to think of ideas fast as the holidays are approaching quickly.  
Cat meanwhile of course also prepares for her role as Santa Clause. She especially practices the typical ‘ho ho ho’ laugh that doesn’t sounds like any Santa Tori has ever heard.  
“I regret my whole life,” Jade says at one lunch suddenly as Cat asks Beck and Jade which ‘ho ho ho’ they consider better.  
“Well, you have promised her,” Beck says with a smile and Andre cuts in with a grin: “I bet Benji will love it.”  
Tori is also sure he will, even if Jade won’t like it all that much.  
That makes Cat happy again, even if she has shortly pouted after Jade’s comment. Now, she asks: “Do you know already when I can come?”  
Beck answers: “Yeah. We thought if you have time, then Christmas Eve would be fine. We’ll be at my parents’ house.”  
Cat nods. “I have time. And I’m already so excited!”  
Robbie asks her if she already has her costume and that she has to take photos while Tori suddenly wonders. She hasn’t thought about it before but she suddenly wonders how Jade and Beck are actually celebrating Christmas. She can imagine both still wanting to celebrate with their own families but also with their child.  
She doesn’t cut into the others’ talk though at lunch. But Beck and Tori have a free period next as their teacher is sick. They still have a project to do exactly for that class that’s due before the holidays and they have decided that they would do that project during that free period.  
Of course, she uses the chance there, as she sits alone with Beck in the Asphalt Café later, as Jade would probably roll her eyes at her curiousness anyway. “Where will Benji celebrate Christmas?”  
Beck seems surprised at the question but answers: “At my place. But Jade, her mother and her brother will be there too.”  
“Really?” Tori asks, surprised herself. She herself loves being in her own house on Christmas morning, loves being just with her closest family, doing all the usual things, keeping their very own traditions. Of course, she will one day move out and possibly celebrate with own husband and kids but she enjoys still having the same Christmas as she has had as a child.  
Beck nods. “Sure. Last year, my parents got to Jade’s really early on Christmas morning. This year we decided to celebrate at my parents’ and Jade’s mom and brother will come Christmas Eve already and stay over night in my room and the guest room. It’s not like our families are particularly close but Jade and I are family, too, and everyone makes it work.”  
Tori feels almost thunderstrucked. She has never thought about it but... yes, Jade and Beck are actually a family. They have a son together after all. They are their very own family.  
But she imagines having to celebrate with another family and notices: “That must be difficult.” After all, they will have different traditions, different ideas about how Christmas has to go. Right?  
“Oh, it is,” Beck says with a smile and obviously knows what she’s thinking about. “We try to keep everyone’s most loved traditions but it’s tough. We first thought about having Benji spend Christmas morning with one of us and the rest of the day with the other but Jade and I both want to be with him on important holidays and our parents of course want to be with us and Benji, so... But yeah. We are family, so we manage.”  
“It’s so weird that you really are family,” Tori says amused as she turns the page in the book she has gotten for their project.  
“I know,” Beck replies. “It’s even more weird when you know that my parents originally never liked Jade. You know about Jade’s grandparents who liked me at first – both her mother’s and her father’s parents actually – and who don’t like me at all anymore since the pregnancy. My family never liked Jade but the relationship between my parents and Jade gets better by the day.”  
Tori hasn’t known about Beck’s family never liking Jade. But she can actually imagine that. She remembers how Beck has said that Jade’s grandparents probably believed he would keep her out of trouble. She can imagine Beck’s family believing Jade would bring him trouble. Jade is that kind of girl.  
“It’s funny that it made them like Jade,” she says because if Beck’s parents also didn’t like Jade at first... They now seem to be on good terms with her. They even celebrate Christmas together. Though she made Beck a teenage father.  
Beck agrees: “It is. But they also do see what a dedicated mother she is for their grandchild, so... And I think her and me breaking up changed a lot about how they saw Jade."  
"In what way?" Tori asks confused. She can't imagine them liking Jade for that.  
Beck explains: "She told her mom first and she called my parents to talk about the situation. Obviously, there was a child involved now. We were broken up for two days by then and were able to handle everything with Benji in school. I spent the previous nights with Andre though, so my parents wouldn't know, while I otherwise was with Jade and Benji over night all the time back then. I only saw Benji in school because of that. Jade and her mother came over with him and my mother said that I should also have him some afternoons and some nights one day. And Jade said that that's only natural, that I'm his father after all and that she's ready to leave him for the night right then because I haven't been with him so much over the last two days. Mind you, we were fighting with and glaring at each other, even right there. My parents must have seen that she hated noone more than me in that moment - and yet she didn't use Benji against me which they possibly would've expected."  
"That's incredible," Tori says as she tries to imagine the situation. Beck and Jade barely talking to each other as their parents are with them, but throwing each other dirty looks, like they do sometimes, and then Jade saying she of course will leave her son with Beck, as he is also his. And if Tori remembers, Benji has only been two months old by then. It must have broken Jade's heart to not have him for the night. Though it probably also broke Beck's the two nights prior as he also did spend every night before that with his son.  
Beck smiles. "My parents obviously thought so, too. They realized that Jade is a great person and an even more wonderful mother than they were able to witness before. At first, they even thought about fighting for custody though.”  
“What?” Tori asks. That can’t be true, can it be? They can’t have ever thought about potentially taking Benji away from Jade, can they?  
Beck nods. “They didn’t really know Jade’s parents back then and thought with the way Jade turned out, they couldn’t be good. You know, as they never thought much of Jade anyway.”  
“Sounds terrible,” Tori states because yes, Tori may also have thought of Jade as a different kind of mother, as a weird one, but... directly thinking of fighting for custody? Before the child was even there yet? Taking a child away from its mother just because she is different?  
Beck seems satisfied about Tori’s reaction and says: “I almost moved away. They never talked well about Jade but that was really bad. They didn’t even talk to me about it but among each other. I overheard them and got right in and told them that I would never talk to them again if they would try to take our child away from Jade. The only reason I didn’t move my RV right then was actually that they never really questioned if Benji was mine. The way they behaved around Jade I wouldn’t have been shocked about it – though I would’ve been angry. But after we told them Jade was pregnant, they just asked me once if I’m sure it’s mine and I said yes and they never asked again and never wanted a paternity test or anything. I mean... I think nowadays it’s pretty obvious that I’m his father but it wasn’t necessarily when he was just born. But my parents at least trusted Jade and me that far.”  
Well, and that must truly be something if they have never thought much of Jade. Of course they could’ve alleged Jade of sleeping with another boy and now pretending it to be Beck’s child for them to pay.  
And yes, Benji obviously is Beck’s child, looks so much like him, but Tori remembers that picture of little Benji in Jade’s arms and... well, he looked like any baby pretty much. It wasn’t that obvious back then, but Beck’s parents still took care of him and never really questioned it.  
It’s amazing how both they and Jade’s mother are so dedicated to the little family Jade and Beck make though nobody could’ve wanted it. Not even Beck and Jade.  
And Tori has thought about it before but has never dared to ask. But her curiosity finally gets the better of her.  
After they’ve read in their books in silent for a few minutes, she raises her voice again: “Am I allowed to ask? How did it even happen? You didn’t plan to have Benji, did you?”  
Beck looks up again, tilts his head before he slowly answers: “No. But how do these things happen? Because people are dumb. And so were we.”  
Tori furrows her eyebrows, isn’t sure she gets what he’s saying.  
He looks around as if to check who is listening, but then actually tells her (which Tori guesses they have told Andre, Robbie, Cat and their parents as well back when it happened, to explain themselves): “She couldn’t really stomach her first pill but as it only got bad after some months, her gynecologist decided to take her off the pill altogether for two months or possibly more to check if it really was because of the pill, before he prescribe her a new one. We of course still protected with condoms but one time it broke. And we made the mistake of thinking that the risk wasn’t high that she got pregnant through that. It was only once after all. Otherwise she probably would’ve gotten the morning after pill or something. But well... We were young and dumb and didn’t even think about it anymore. And before she went to her gynecologist again, she realized she hadn’t had her period again and made a pregnancy test and... well. She dealt with it for a day on her own, then she came to me.“  
Well, that truly was dumb. But they definitely seem to know that themselves.  
“And you never had any doubt about keeping him?” she asks.  
“Oh, we did,” Beck answers. “We seriously thought about abortion for roughly two weeks. Then, Jade finally said she couldn’t do it and I was relieved because I couldn’t imagine our child getting aborted. Though I thought she should have the final say about that as she would have to go through pregnancy and birth and everything. We then went to tell our parents as they would of course notice her being pregnant and together with them we thought about giving him up for adoption. We talked about it a lot but we decided we wanted to keep him. So, Benji wasn’t planned but he certainly was wanted. We had other options. That decision was tough though and our parents weren’t all that happy with it. But you know... Even with my parents disliking Jade and her mother also being angry at us... I actually knew everything would be okay when we sat together and our parents talked about how they couldn’t allow us to sleep together anymore as soon as the baby would be there. Jade dryly said that there would be no need to keep us apart for we had definitely learned that lesson and for some reason everyone started laughing. Every time we talked before about the situation, everyone always was so serious – understandably – but suddenly they laughed and that made me know we could all do this together. We would be able to make this work.”  
“That must have been a relief,” Tori says. She can imagine how tense everyone must’ve been and how relieved Beck and Jade must’ve felt when they parents were finally able to... laugh about the situation.  
Beck smiles. “It was. Well, and since then, we’re all growing together. My parents and Jade’s mom talk a lot but mainly over the phone, through messages or through Jade and me actually. So, Christmas is something special as we’re actually all spending time together.”  
“I hope you have an amazing one,” Tori says and then turns back to her books: “And enough interrogation again. Sorry. We have to do this project.”

Tori has to give a present to Andre but she can’t think of anything good while she watches all her friends come up with amazing ideas. Cat for example gives Jade the scissors out of her favorite movie – she tells her she would’ve loved to bring them to her as Santa Clause but that Sikowitz wanted to give them all their presents before school is on break and that she sadly had to give it to her as herself in school. Jade doesn’t even glare at her for that; she is that happy about the present itself.  
And Jade’s present is actually giving Tori an idea for a present for Andre. She comes by alone one evening, Benji left with Beck, and they directly plan their performance, also inviting Cat over who immediately is on board.  
Sikowitz finally decides, on their last day before break, that they all won and not one of them has to go Christmas yodeling.  
Late on Christmas Eve, Beck sends all of the friends a photo of Cat in a Santa Clause costume, with too many pillows underneath the outfit and a way too long beard, and Benji sitting in her arms, looking at her in absolute glee.


	13. The Breakfast Bunch and The Gorilla Club

They are barely back in school for the new year, when they promptly all get detention. It’s on Saturday.  
Of course, not one of them really wants to (except possibly Cat) but here they are now. And Dickers is the one who’s supposed to watch them.  
He sends them into the library, gives them a short talking to and then wants to collect their phones.  
“Why?” they ask and Dickers answers: “Because in detention, there are no phone calls.”  
“We need to be reachable in case something happens to our son though,” Beck immediately says.  
“They can call the school’s number,” Dickers says but Jade sarcastically adds: “Because there’s someone sitting at that phone the whole time.”  
Dickers looks at her angrily but obviously he also knows that’s not true. And Dickers totally is an ass and noone likes him but... he seems to have a heart somewhere. At least, he says: “Put all the phone in this box and I will put the box over there.” He points to the cupboard. “If I see any one of you on a phone or a phone out the box without it being an emergency involving the son of the both of you, you will all have another detention. Clear?”  
They all nod and he says: “Then get them in here.”  
They do, even though Jade rolls her eyes about it. And it’s not like everyone else is happy about it. No phone also means no texting, no internet and no games. This will be a long day.  
“Now, I’m gonna put your box of phones right here,” Dickers repeats and puts the box on the cupboard as promised. Well... Tori wonders how often he will come check up on them. Maybe, they can still use their phones a little bit without him even noticing.  
Then, Dickers says after Robbie’s question that they will have the tuna next to their phones to eat. But they obviously can’t eat that and when they say so he says he can care less. Which naturally isn’t what he means, so they correct him until he gets angry and decides that he doesn’t want to hear another word.  
“Word,” Jade of course says and Dickers gives her another Saturday detention. Jade must make another ‘smart’ remark which gets her yet another detention and that finally makes Jade apologize. She does seem honest about that – probably because she absolutely doesn’t want another two Saturday’s worth of detention.  
So, when she gets another detention for the apology, Tori has to defend her: “But she was apologizing.”  
And she gets detention for that one, which is unbelievable. But her reation gets her another and her reaction on that yet another. Gosh. Now, Jade and she both have three.  
“You wanna try for four?” Dickers asks her and Tori can’t help but say: “I really don’t.”  
But of course that gets her the forth. Dickers asks: “You want five?”  
“Yes,” Jade says on her behalf as Tori does her best to not say another word. She already will spend every Saturday for a month in detention.  
But Dickers does give her a fifth one for Jade’s answer. Tori tries to defend herself and is glad in retrospect that she hasn’t gotten a sixth for that. But that probably also is the case because of Rex suddenly chipping in.  
After Robbie has gotten a detention for that, they are finally all silent and Dickers leaves them alone.  
“Asshole,” Jade says and kicks against the leg of the table violently.  
Beck puts his hand on her arm gingerly. “We will make sure you won’t have those other detentions.”  
“Of course you will, almighty Beck,” Jade spits out sarcastically and slaps his hand away.  
Beck doesn’t seem offended. He rarely is when Jade talks to him like that. “You got those detentions out of ridiculous reasons. I bet your mom will come up to school and give them a piece of her mind for that.”  
Tori instantly knows she will also tell her parents and that many detentions for such a small thing? Without a doubt, her parents will also talk to their principle and make sure she will have one more at best or something.  
“As if she will care,” Jade now says. “It’s not like your parents or mine cared about us having to be here today. They just said it’s our own fault.”  
Tori already knows that Jade and Beck have asked the school to get detentions on different days as they would be even more bored then but at least one of them could take care of their son – whom they were explicitly told would not be allowed in detention. But the school obviously denied them that.  
“We saved Robbie from choking,” Tori reasons. It isn’t really their own fault that they got late to class.  
“Did your parents believe that?” Andre asks with raised eyebrows. Well. No, they didn’t really.  
“I think my mom believed we went somewhere to make out,” Jade casually says, implying Beck and her. Beck shrugs almost in a way as if to say that would also be possible.  
“But we all have detention,” Robbie says confused. They can’t all have gone somewhere to make out.  
Jade smirks. “Maybe, we had an orgy.”  
“That’s weird,” Tori says honestly and suddenly, Cat pipes up: “I want to draw something.”  
It’s as if she’s talking to Jade, who actually gets a paper and a pencil somewhere out of her clothes and throws it over to Cat, who hums happily as she starts drawing.  
“Anyway...” Andre continues, turning back to Jade and Beck. “Usually you’re parents are all very onto having at least one of you there to take care of Benji as much as you can, aren’t they?”  
“Yeah, usually,” Beck agrees. “They saw it differently this time. I mean... Usually, they complain if we do the same play but detention at the same time is apparently fine.”  
Jade changes her the tone of her voice as if to imitate someone, but with a very disgusted undertone: “It shows us that our bad behaviour also affects our son. Ugh.”  
That doesn’t sound nice at all. They really must think that Beck and Jade got late to class for very stupid reasons.  
But there’s another thing that Tori’s mind stopped at. “They complain when you do the same play?”  
“Yeah,” Beck says and adds with a shrug: “We naturally do a lot of the same stuff as we are in a lot of the same classes but they prefer it if one of us is with Benji. They do want us to be the parents of him after all and not behave like his siblings.”  
Tori furrows her brows. “In what way?”  
“Gosh, you’re nosy again,” Jade says annoyed and Tori feels a little offended. It’s not like she’s nosy. She’s just curious. And she also never really has questioned Jade all that much, just that once when Beck has been in Canada.  
She quickly defends herself now: “I’m only interested in your situation.”  
“Ugh,” Jade makes but Beck rubs her back soothingly and actually answers Tori: “Well, our parents obviously take care of Benji financially but they want us to be there for him emotionally, actually be there with him, spend our time with him and everything. Because we’re supposed to be his parents, not just his siblings or other people who live in the same house or whatever. Though of course, financially speaking... every time one of us does any job, we also give the money to your parents but... yeah... we don’t have to do much on that front.”  
“Which some of our relatives critize,” Jade adds dryly, suddenly answering as well, “saying they should let us be totally responsible, as it’s our mistake. Let us earn the money as soon as possible, having to possibly give up on school and everything.”  
“That would’ve done more damage than anything,” Andre gently says. He and Robbie listen to Beck’s and Jade’s explanation as well though Tori doesn’t think it can be all that new to them. On the other hand... They probably also didn’t ask all that much back then, especially if Jade ever called them out on being nosy. They both are a little afraid of angering Jade after all.  
“It would have,” Beck confirms. “We would have never managed, wouldn’t have had enough time for Benji at all, would’ve soon hated our lives and possibly even Benji because of it.”  
“That would’ve been sad,” Cat pipes in. She looks up from her drawing with a pout. Well, apparently, she’s also still listening.  
Beck shoots her a light smile before he continues: “Our parents knew that and therefore have taken care of the money from the very beginning. But they have always made us do most of the rest. They also could’ve taken over, you know, and could be fine with us being away. Because they definitely knew better than we did back when Benji was born, how to handle him. And it would’ve been easy for Jade and me to just let them do it. But they pushed us to do everything ourselves, left us alone with Benji...”  
Jade looks at him with a smirk. “You didn’t even know how to change a diaper back then.”  
“You did?” Tori asks surprised and Jade seems annoyed at her again but answers casually: “I have a younger brother.” Oh, of course she does. A brother that is so much younger that she would have been able to change him already when he was small.  
Beck continues again: “I was a mess but luckily, Jade also didn’t take that out of my hand. I would’ve never learned it if everyone would’ve just taken over. Which is true for everything else as well.”  
Now, Robbie speaks up again, amused: “I remember how you freaked out when he had the snivells for the first time.”  
“Oh, yeah,” Beck nods, now also seeming amused which he probably wasn’t back then. “That was bad. It must be for all first time parents, I guess.” He turns to Tori, getting back to her original question once again: “Our parents remained calm, suggested what to do but never forced us to behave in a certain way. They knew how to hold Benji to make him cry less but they still gave him back to us every time. They let us run to the doctors, even though they knew Benji also was fine at home. They made sure we started trusting our instincts though they certainly helped us find those. We were allowed to do what we thought was right, even if it wasn’t what they necessarily deemed right, you know? And they of course still want us to be with him most of the time. As you know, they sometimes push us to go out or something, to still be teenagers” – Tori does know that, has remembered their trip to Venice beach over half a year ago, last June, as soon as Andre has mentioned the snivells. Surely, Beck’s parents have asked them to go out then, that they would take care of their sick child but yes, it has been Beck’s and Jade’s decision in the end. – “but they do want us to be with Benji most of the time. At least one of us. They want us to remain being his parents and never get into the sibling role. They want us to keep being the primary caretakers of him, you know?”  
“That makes sense,” Tori nods because it does.  
Tori also guesses it would’ve been easy for Jade and Beck to slip into some kind of sibling role. She knows that her mother herself had problems with her parents in law who have always liked to take over with Trina and Tori when they have visited. Her mother still often suddenly vanishes when Tori’s grandparents come to visit, because they are just so dominant in a sense.  
Jade suddenly cuts in again, bored: “Ugh, I feel like you have taken hours out of my day with this talk but barely fifteen minutes have gone by.”  
Tori feels offended yet again but Andre also nods: “Yeah, it’s gonna be a long day.”  
It turns out to be a long day until about 11am when they finally find their way out in a sense, ‘eat tacos’ (which Tori isn’t sure, Beck or Jade should do with a child at home but they don’t seem concerned at all) and suddenly, the time goes by pretty fast and they have a good day together.

Tori’s father goes to school on Monday to ask about those extra detentions because her parents also don’t understand those. He comes to school with her in the morning and in the afternoon, he tells her that she won’t have to do her detentions anymore. Robbie’s extra one and Jade’s extra three are also suspended. Jade’s mother has apparently been in school as well, with Benji, so that Tori’s father now also has met the little boy. They didn’t have to get too much into it as their principle Helen quickly said that of course there wasn’t any reason for those detentions. Tori tries to find out what Jade’s mother otherwise was like as she didn’t see her at all and naturally she wonders who Jade’s mother might be, but her father shrugs and says that he has already said all he has gotten to know about the woman – which is nothing.

 

Tori has another audition coming up which she’s really happy about. Sikowitz and her friends help her prepare for it and tell her she needs to appear more ready to take risks, more dangerous, more on the edge.  
On Wednesday evening, her friends come over to her place to play poker. Tori doesn’t even remember how they got that idea but somehow they did.  
Jade and Beck bring Benji of course but they seem to be pretty unnvered by each other again. They have already seemed like that in school but Tori would’ve bet it would be fine again by evening. It isn’t. They don’t even sit next to each other around the table though they otherwise always insist on that.  
Benji has a toy train with him that has several cars which he can put together himself and with which he runs through the whole living room. He runs it over the floor, the couch, his mother’s leg and pretty much over everything he can find and seems to have great fun with that. And while he seems to be so sensitive about people his mother hates, he apparently doesn’t notice the bad mood between his parents now – or is successfully ignoring it like their friends are trying to do.  
Tori tells her friends about her decision and about what Sikowitz told her about taking risks and they actually agree, saying she’s boring and everything.  
Trina interrupts their talk, asking for a package because she expects Frazini shoes.  
She almost accidentely walks into Benji as she starts calling about her package and the boy looks up to her with all his dignity and says in a tone that sounds so much like his mother: “No.”  
“Get out of my way,” Trina tells him and Tori sees how Jade turns around with a glare because definitely nobody is allowed to talk like that to her son, especially not Trina.  
But Beck quickly says: “Benji. Why don’t you come to me for a sec?”  
“Okay,” the boy promptly decides, runs past Trina with his train in his hand and to Beck.  
Jade now also glares at Beck which she doesn’t do all that often, not like that: “She should’ve stepped aside, not him.”  
Beck looks a little unnerved but he doesn’t say anything back, instead he puts on his smile as he pulls his son onto his lap. “Wanna help me win this game?”  
“Yes!” Benji says and Cat pouts: “N’aw, that’s mean. Of course you will win now.”  
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Robbie says with a smile and nods in Benji’s direction. Sure enough, at that moment, as they all look to Benji, he grabs one of the sweets they use as poker chips and eats it, lying his train next to Beck’s other poker chips.  
Trina is long back to her call and Andre now says Jade’s name to prompt her to do her next move.  
Jade does and Tori, Cat and Beck instantly decide to fold. Robbie and Andre meanwhile make a bet with Jade to be able to do the round – of course Jade wins. Tori is sure you should never make a bet with Jade because she wouldn’t do it without being sure she would win. But well... Now, Andre and Robbie “get hammer time”.  
Jade’s extremely gleeful about that before Tori gets back to her audition problem and Beck explains to her why you have to take risks to be a good actor: “Because acting is about stepping outside your comfort zones. About pushing your emotions to new places.”  
Jade immediately does a very bad impression of him: “Oh, I’m Beck. I know about acting. I say words.”  
Tori feels uncomfortable. She feels even more uncomfortable as Benji squeals out of glee because of his mother’s impression of his father. Gosh. This can’t be happening.  
Beck looks at her deadpan while he of course keeps holding Benji, and Jade even smirks at Benji, obviously happy that she has made Benji laugh with something mean against his father.  
It’s Cat’s voice that cuts through the awkward mood, innocently: “I don’t see why we can’t just pretend to be pirates.”  
She has talked about pretending to be pirates before they have started playing. They all have dismissed that idea without hesitation. They also dismiss the idea now and Tori gets back to her problem, decides that she has to learn to take risks after all, even if she doesn’t fully get it.  
Benji has grabbed his train again and runs it over Beck’s cards and his candy, making tooting and crushing noises as he does so, which makes all of them stop for a second in their talk and watch him with smiles.  
Then, Jade suddenly suggests: “Why don’t you take her to the Gorilla Club?”  
The others say that they can’t do that, but Tori is on board. She has to do something after all and with the way they react, this sounds definitely like the place she should go to.  
They get interrupted once again by Trina who still tries to track her package and then gets to know that that package will be delivered this very second – which it does.  
Luckily, she doesn’t unpack the shoes inside the living room and instead runs upstairs and into her room to properly check how well the shoes look on her the first time she wears them.  
“Okay. So, where is this Gorilla Club?” Tori then asks and Andre shakes his head: “We can’t let you go there.”  
“Not alone,” Beck agrees and Tori says: “Then take me. Come on. Please.”  
Andre and Beck exchange a look and Tori keeps on pleading: “Just let’s go there tomorrow. All of us. Come on. Please, plase, please.”  
In the end, they do promise and not long after, Benji lies in Beck’s arms exhausted. It’s already late anyway and Tori has been surprised he was up for so long.  
“You should get to bed, huh?” Beck asks him softly and Jade says: “You should take us home.”  
Even with them fighting, they still came together. And Beck now also doesn’t seem annoyed at Jade telling him to bring them home. Instead he nods: “Sure. So, we need to be dealt out.”  
They kind of let them take some of the sweets (with Cat putting some of hers directly into Benji’s hand) and then leave together, even sharing a kiss as they finally meet next to the table again, as if nothing has ever been wrong. Well, that’s how they work.

School on Thursday is uneventful. Beck and Jade do seem to be fine again though they don’t spend as much time together as they sometimes do. They don’t try to be with each other for every break or something and they don’t touch too much. But they do have phases like that. They do have phases when they aren’t doing all too good, so Tori isn’t worried. She has even experienced that two times for a few days each during summer break.  
On late afternoon, after she has been home to change and eat something small, Beck comes to pick her up. He, Andre, Cat and Tori all go to the Gorilla Club together. It’s the birthday of Robbie’s mother which is why he isn’t there, while Jade has apparently decided to be with Benji who isn’t allowed inside the club as he’s too young.  
Tori remembers how Beck and Jade have told her just the last Saturday that their parents regularly insist of at least one of them spending their time with Benji. Obviously, they are still fine with Beck and Jade going to the beach alone every now and then or going to school events but possibly, Jade wasn’t able to go because their parents didn’t want that. Though, she can’t imagine Beck just leaving girlfriend and son alone like that, especially if Jade doesn’t want it that way, but he’s also a good friend and knows how desperate Tori is about all of this.  
So, of course she tells him: “If you want to be with Jade and Benji, it’s fine. Andre and Cat are with me.”  
Though she doesn’t know yet if Cat will be a big help.  
Beck shakes his head: “Don’t worry. Jade is fine with me helping out. She decided to stay with Benji though. She loves to have him alone every now and then – just as I love it every now and then. And not only the night.”  
Tori accepts that, also knows it’s the truth because Beck wouldn’t lie about it.  
And then she gets too distracted by this club anyway.  
Beck drives her home afterwards and also comes inside with her. She now does the scene again and Beck gives her a few pointers what to remember from the club (though she hasn’t really done anything there, of course she has experienced something new), what feeling to gather when she reads that scene. It helps her a lot. He only drives home late that evening.

In school on Friday, she shows Sikowitz the scene again, with Robbie and Andre also watching. They still aren’t satisfied, so she decides to go back to the Gorilla Club with Sikowitz promising her to be available over video chat the whole weekend to judge over her scene again.  
She finds Beck alone at his locker after the decision and directly walks up to him: “Hey. Could you possibly go with me to the Gorilla Club another time?”  
“You sure you wanna?” Beck asks and Tori nods: “I need to. Please come with me?”  
He is the one, whom she trust most. He also was the one who didn’t leave her standing there yesterday while Andre and Cat went to do their own thing. And it’s not like she believes Robbie will be of much help to her there – or Jade who would help her break her neck but nothing else. Beck will support her, stay with her and still also protect her, she’s sure of that.  
He nods, running his fingers through his hair. “Well, sure. We can meet up there after school.”  
“Thank you,” Tori happily says.

Beck brings Jade home but then they do meet up at the club itself and go inside together.  
Tori does the Balls of Pain again and succeeds this time. And she does feel different now. She asks Beck to come to her place again to also judge over her scene. He agrees.  
Tori is surprised to find Cat in her home when they get there. But she has met up with Trina, just to talk apparently. They weirdly have become friends on that ride over half a year ago to Grizzly industries.  
Now, Trina has to leave for a small role she has gotten and she will film this evening. Cat stays and Tori also manages to reach Sikowitz, so she shows those two and Beck her scene again.  
They do praise her for the scene but then Sikowitz has to leave the video chat with them again as some woman calls him. Well, okay.  
They don’t talk among themselves that much longer because then, the door bell rings. Cat decides to open the door as she loves them because they are like presents – which totally doesn’t make sense to Tori but whatever.  
“Oh, look it’s Jade and...” Cat starts to say as Jade already passes by her. She has Benji in her arms and looks pretty pissed. Benji also seems slightly grumpy; Tori doesn’t know if that’s because of his mother’s mood or because of something else.  
“Out of my way,” Jade tells Cat and then already asks Beck: “What are you doing here?”  
Beck seems slightly exasperated as he turns to her. “I’m just helping Tori rehearse for her audition, like I told you.”  
"You said you would go to the club with her, not come here afterwards again," Jade says.  
Beck sighs. "I texted you. And what difference does it make? If I'm helping her here or at the club?"  
“That’s three nights in a row,” Jade says and that’s not entirely true. Yes, Beck now is at Tori’s home for the third evening in a row but they have played poker on Wednesday, all of them, Jade included, so... Beck has spent Thursday’s evening at Tori’s home though, alone, and now today.  
Tori bites her lip with a guilty conscience as she looks at Benji, who can’t have seen his father much today up until now – and won’t see him all that much as he probably has go to bed soon. He also can’t have seen him all that much yesterday. And just because Tori asked Beck for help and Beck is such a good friend.  
Jade continues before Tori can even get the idea to apologize though: “I know she’s bad but does she need this much help?”  
Beck only rolls his eyes before he takes Benji out of Jade’s arms and goes into the direction of the kitchen, leaving Jade just standing there. “Hey, little buddy,” he says.  
Tori meanwhile steps up to Jade. “He’s teaching me about taking risks.” She just wants to make clear what’s going on and wants to explain that’s it’s a temporary thing.  
“Oh,” Jade says though and... gosh. She totally misunderstands.  
Cat cuts in quickly: “It’s true. Today she went to the Gorilla Club and beat the Balls of Pain.”  
Of course, Tori immediately has to confirm proudly: “That’s right. ‘Cuz I’m a surpreme risk taker.”  
“So, you got past the gorilla?” Jade dryly asks.  
She hasn’t. She tries to pride herself by having used the bathroom there but Jade of course knows she hasn’t even sat down. And somehow, Jade makes her say that she will take up the gorilla after all.  
“Let’s do it right now,” Jade decides and Tori says yes before she knows it.  
“What will we do with Benji?” Beck asks though and Tori feels like she should thank him on her knees. Benji is a good excuse to not go. He won’t be allowed in the club and Beck of course would want to come to make sure nothing too bad happens while Jade obviously wants to come to see Tori getting hurt.  
Jade answers cooly: “Your parents are home, aren’t they? We’ll bring him there and then drive to the club. Or you could go home with him as you have barely seen him today anyway.”  
She says that last part very harshly and Tori promptly bites her lip again, guilty.  
Benji gets slightly uneasy in Beck’s arms and he starts rubbing his back soothingly as he shrugs: “Fine then. We will bring him home and then drive there.”  
Cat calls Andre and Robbie because she says they shouldn’t miss that. She actually acts like this is a great game. Tori wants nothing more to draw back by now but Beck and Jade are already on their way (first to Beck’s home, then to the club) and it’s not like she wants to back out of a challenge with Jade. Jade wouldn’t let her ever hear the end of it.  
Beck and Jade seem fine again when they arrive at the club though they haven’t seem all that fine back at Tori’s house. But Tori has barely time to appreciate them being okay again.  
Robbie and Andre truly do also come to watch her but by the time they arrive Tori isn’t really able to notice anything anymore.  
She does beat the gorilla in the end but also almost breaks her spine and doesn’t get the role because of that.


	14. The Worst Couple, Andre's Horrible Girl, Car, Rain and Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> Yes, as you can see, I'm still on time. Also, I already shortly looked into season 4 by now. I did that after I realized after my update last week with The Breakfast Bunch, that Cell Block from season 4 won't work at all - or at least Beck and Jade wouldn't participate. I noticed that there are a lot of weird episodes in season 4. I'll definitely cut Brain Squeezers and it's very likely more episodes get cut there, or otherwise will only very shortly mentioned (like Andre's Horrible Girl in this chapter). Which means, that there aren't too many episodes to go. Though I still estimate about 20 chapters in total (as there are two birthdays coming up in the fic that both get a lot of room). We'll see.  
> Have fun reading!

Jade and Beck seem to be in some sort of crisis. Yes, they have always bickered but it’s somehow worse now. From time to time they are okay again but never totally. They are not back anymore to that couple that touches all the time and doesn’t seem to be able to be without each other. They do spend surprinsingly much time apart from each other, Beck coming to visit Tori with Robbie and Andre a few times while she still sits there with her broken bones.  
When she finally looks normal again, they have Sinjin’s game show coming up – and that seems to break Jade and Beck totally.  
They don’t bring Benji. After Tori asking, Beck says they have left him with his mother and her sister who’s visiting. Jade meanwhile asks why Tori cares, obviously is annoyed. Which makes Beck roll his eyes at her and Jade glare back at him.  
She would’ve bet that those two could ace a game like that but they can’t stop fighting. Jade makes harsh comments all around and seems even more uncooperative than ever while Beck isn’t just taking it calmly but shoots back and calls her out for it in harsh words.  
And finally, Beck utters the words that he isn’t happy in their relationship and Tori sees Jade’s face fall and knows she will never forget that.  
Jade goes over to ignoring Beck, as they can see in school the next day. Beck meanwhile tries to talk to her again and again and they end up fighting the whole day.  
During their last break, they have both just run off again and their friends remain. After looking at each other awkwardly for a while, they finally start talking about something else again. And as they all have time again, they are thinking about playing poker another time. It has been fun the last time, therefore of course they feel like doing it again.  
“What are we doing about Beck and Jade?” Robbie carefully asks after they agreed on meeting today after school.  
They share glances before Cat says slowly and almost pouting: “We can’t not invite them.”  
“But do you really want them around like this?” Andre asks sceptically and clearly, Cat doesn’t. She sometimes even hates their bickering. She definitely hates their bigger fights. They all do.  
“I think we shouldn’t tell them about it,” Tori says. “Maybe, they can use the time to finally talk about their issues.” She doesn’t know how much time they lately actually had together, just for the two of them. In school, there’s obviously always someone around and Beck has been kept up with Tori’s issues and has also helped Andre out the last few evenings with issues with his family as far as Tori knows. On the other hand... It’s not like Jade seems like she wants to talk.  
It’s Robbie who bites his lip and then says: “I’m not sure they can talk this one out. It’s actually a lot like the times they broke up before. Possibly worse. You know... The mood between them, the way they fight, the way how they don’t make up in between every now and then.”  
“Don’t say that,” Cat breathes, looking afraid.  
Tori definitely also doesn’t want their friends to break up. Also, because there is a child involved. “Can we do something?”  
Andre shrugs. “I don’t think so. Either they come out stronger, or it will be over soon. I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it.”

Tori doesn’t know how Beck could’ve possibly known, if someone blabbed or he overheard one of them somewhere in school, but in the middle of their card game (that Trina almost has joined but luckily has decided against in the end), the door bell rings, Tori opens, and Beck and Jade charge in, Jade with Benji in her arms.  
“See?” Beck says. “They’re all here. I told you they’d all be here.”  
Tori hurries to say, after she has closed the door behind them: “Listen, I’m sorry that we didn’t invite you guys to play but uh...”  
Beck cuts through her: “Tell her why you didn’t invite us to play.”  
Tori racks her brains and answers hesitating: “Well, ‘cause... we were planing your surprise party?”  
“What?” Jade asks with furrowed brows while she puts Benji on the floor. He has started wriggling uneasily in her arms from the get go, now he quickly runs over to Cat on his little legs, who pulls him into her lap and holds him tightly as both of them watch Beck and Jade with big eyes. As if Cat actually was their child as well, as if two siblings watched their family break apart.  
Andre now stands up and takes over which Tori is happy about: “Alright. We didn’t invite you guys to play because you two are always screaming at each other lately. And it makes everybody feel awkward.” And it worries all of them, it makes them feel bad so deep inside. Because Beck and Jade are the couple, the couple that can go through everything, that shows that true love exist. But maybe, it doesn’t. At least not between them. Though they also have broken up before and have gotten back together.  
“See?” Beck says, making a rough gesture to the table where Cat and Robbie are still seated and at which Andre still stands. “We fight so much, even our friends don’t want us around!”  
“Why do you care what other people think?” Jade answers and Beck presses his lips together before he then says: “Look at our son! Is this something you want for him?”  
They are both aware of their son. Tori notices that both may talk with a lot of emphasis but they aren’t getting as loud as they are sometimes in school.  
But this has apparently been a low blow, the way Jade looks. Between gritted teeth, she gives back: “Don’t. Don’t say I’m doing something bad for my son. Don’t make this my fault, Beck!”  
“I’m not,” Beck claims. “I just want to talk about it!”  
By now, Tori awkwardly steps around the couch to her other friends who also watch the scene with horror. As does Benji, who must be used to their little bickering but who also knows that it usually also is fine again within a few minutes. It obviously isn’t now. Tori wonders if one of them should go outside with the small boy but she doesn’t dare just taking him – or interrupting Beck and Jade in their fight.  
“Yeah, right!” Jade now answers. “That’s why you always run away” – Tori hasn’t seen Beck do that in school, quite the opposite – “and try to always have more people around you than just me and possibly your son.”  
Beck obviously also doesn’t understand this claim. “I’ve tried talking to you for almost a week now!”  
“No, you wanted to come here again today and have been here and everywhere else for the last two weeks!”  
“What are you talking about?” Beck asks.  
“We haven’t been alone for two weeks, Beck,” Jade stresses. “We have barely been just the two of us and Benji. You obviously don’t want to spend time with me!”  
This time it’s Beck’s face that falls and his answer is much softer than all his previous words: “That’s not true.”  
“Yeah, right,” Jade says again, still sounding angry and irritated. “And that’s why you’re saying you’re not happy with our relationship anymore.”  
“Because of the constant fighting,” Beck is quick to put in.  
Jade doesn’t seem to believe that. “Sure. And that’s also why you suddenly left me alone all the time, right?”  
Tori is sure nobody has been supposed to hear but there has been something broken in Jade’s voice just now. She exchanges an uncertain look with Andre.  
“You told me it was okay,” Beck says. “You told me every single time that I could go.” And he went to help out his friends, namely Tori and Andre, and to spend time with everyone. It’s not like he was out god knows where. And Jade has even been with him some of the times. They have all spend some evenings together during the last two weeks and of course Jade has been there too. Benji as well sometimes.  
Jade crosses her arms in front of her. “Because I’m always the jealous bitch and I know you will leave me when I tell you to spend less time with our friends.”  
Tori swallows and immediately, Beck takes a step forward to Jade, saying earnestly: “I won’t, Jade. I love you.” It’s almost as if he’s worried. As if he wouldn’t have counted on the word ‘leaving’ to ever come up, something along the lines of ‘breaking up’ while their friends all have deemed that highly possible.  
Jade doesn’t seem soothed, instead she spits out: “Yeah, you love me so much you didn’t spend one evening just with me and Benji last week. We didn’t spend a night together, not even on the weekend. And you wouldn’t have spent any afternoon if we hadn’t accidently had a son together.”  
“That’s not true,” Beck repeats himself, taking another step to her and suddenly standing closely without her drawing back or pushing him away. “I’m sorry. It’s just... You know it has been stressful the last few days and... yeah, I kinda was glad to get out of the house. I thought the distance would do us good, especially when we fought so much. I should’ve realized how you felt. I didn't though. I’m sorry. But you need to talk to me about these kind of things. Whenever you feel... lonely or something.”  
Because they usually know everything about each other, but surely, if they are stressed, if Benji is keeping them busy, they can miss stuff. And it’s unbelievable that Jade has actually felt lonely but now that Tori thinks about that... If Beck has wanted to meet up with them every single day, she would’ve felt lonely as well if she would’ve wanted to stay home with her son every once in a while.  
Jade uncrosses her arms again, glances to their friends while she has stared to Beck determinedly before, as if to ignore everyone else. And maybe she would’ve said something more to Beck if they were alone in the safety of one of their homes. But Jade certainly has already trouble having these really big emotional fights in front of anyone. Actually talking about it afterwards must be impossible for her.  
So, instead of an answer, she suddenly leans forward and involves Beck in a kiss.  
Beck returns it without hesitation, puts his hands on her hips as he pulls her closer. She wraps her arms around his neck as she also draws him closer still as their lips meet and meet again without ever actually breaking apart in between.  
Okay, they clearly are starting to fully make out. Apparently, their fight is forgotten. They have understood where the other one was coming from and possibly both have done something wrong but they don’t need to say that because they know. And just like that it’s fine again. Even with a fight like this, they can make up just like that. Because they do love each other. And because they do want to make this work.  
Tori doesn’t know if they would’ve fought this out just now if Benji wouldn’t be there, if he wouldn’t exist.  
But now, it’s fine again and Tori looks to their son that still sits on Cat’s lap, held closely by her though she smiles by now. He also looks quite confident again, relaxed, even relieved. Tori asks herself how much he has understood and how long he will remember this. She hopes that Beck and Jade will never fight again in front of him – or ever in general.  
Now, they are making out in any case and while it makes everyone smile out of relief at first, Tori exchanges another awkward glance with Andre after a minute or so.  
Beck lets his hands wander to Jade’s ass, before Tori quickly says: “Uhm... Guys. We’re still here.”  
Beck and Jade’s lips break apart, they bodies don’t though. They turn slightly together to look at their friends and Beck glances to Benji, before he asks: “Do you think, Benji could play cards with you for a while?”  
Whoa, okay. Jade smiles at that and obviously they want to go away alone. Tori is sure that they want to do something, Jade has not meant when she has told Beck that they haven’t been alone any evening for two weeks now. But possibly, that’s what they need to properly make up. And possibly, Tori misreads the situation and they just want to leave alone and spend time without... going there.  
“Sure,” Cat says, now totally happy again, tickling the young boy that laughs. “Little Benji can play in a team with me.”  
Beck smiles and he and Jade share another kiss before they finally fully break apart. “I’ll get his bag,” Beck says.  
He leaves the house again while Jade walks up to Cat and Benji and draws her son into her arms. She doesn’t seem embarrassed at all that obviously their friends know what they’re up to now. Tori notices that Andre and Robbie totally are, as is she.  
Jade now easily talks to them again, though: “He has eaten but you can give him some snacks or something. Not too many. And you know how to change him, right?”  
She looks at Robbie and Andre at that, who both nod. However they know.  
“I know, too,” Cat says with a bright smile and Jade chooses to ignore it, instead she continues: “Call one of us if he cries and you can’t calm him down.”  
In the same moment, Beck comes back inside. He drops the bag next to the door before he walks up as well.  
Jade meanwhile turns to Benji in her arms and Tori has never heard her say it but is sure she has told him a thousand times, now extremely softly: “I love you, Benji.”  
“Love you, too,” Benji answers and Tori’s heart almost melts. She has also never heard Benji being able to say it back, even the few times she has heard Beck tell him.  
Jade kisses his cheek, then Beck drops a kiss on Benji’s head, saying: “I also love you.”  
And Benji also answers him: “Love you, too.”  
“Be good, yeah?” Beck then tells him while Jade hands him back to Cat who takes him happily.  
Then, Beck turns back to Jade once more: “Everything taken care of?”  
She nods, takes his hand and pulls him with her. Without another word, they leave.  
“Well, that has gone differently than I expected,” Andre truthfully says as soon as the door is shut behind them.  
“Luckliy,” Robbie nods.  
Cat tilts her head. “I hope they have a good time.”  
Tori can’t help but say: “I bet they will.” That makes Robbie and Andre smirk slightly, obviously knowing what she implies.  
Cat just looks happy at that and turns to Benji: “Hear that? Your parents will have a great time. And we will, too. Wanna play with us?”  
“Yes,” Benji decides and that makes Tori and Andre finally sit down again and they get back to playing.

Somehow, it’s different not having Beck or Jade around but still having Benji with them. Tori realizes why that is when Benji starts crying and they decide that he probably needs to be changed and Robbie leaves with him for the bathroom to do just that. It’s because suddenly, they are responsible. Usually, Beck and Jade of course are the ones to take Benji when there’s something wrong, to watch him primarily when he runs around, to look after him, making sure he’s fine. Now, it’s totally on them and that is weird as Benji also is awake and running around, babbling and whining every now and then, unlike almost a year ago when Tori watched him for an hour while Benji had his nap – with the option of very quickly getting to Beck and Jade as soon as Benji would cry. Of course, they now can also call them but they all know they don’t want to do that, they do want to grant them their time off, their time alone.  
They come back after over an hour. Benji has sat between Andre and Tori on the floor, playing with a few bricks, Andre has gotten out of his bag for him after he has gotten bored just watching them play cards.  
Now, he directly jumps up to his feet when his parents walk in without knocking or anything. Tori wants to call them out for that but Benji already says happily: “Mommy! Daddy!”  
And who can interrupt that?  
Beck squats down and Benji gleefully runs into his arms as if he hasn’t seen him for ages. Tori wonders if Beck and Jade are expected like that almost every day after school. That’d definitely be something to be jealous about.  
“Hey, baby. Have had a good time?” Beck asks, standing up with the little boy in his arms.  
“Yeah,” Benji answers and while Jade also touches the boy shortly in his back, Beck smiles: “Good.”  
“What about you?” Andre asks. “Everything alright?”  
Tori doesn’t know if she would’ve asked or if she just would’ve trusted that everything was fine now again.  
“Yes,” Beck answers and actually adds: “Sorry to have pulled you into our mess. And thanks for looking after Benji.”  
Jade draws the child out of his arms into hers, looking rather uninterested in their talk but making faces for Benji which Tori also has never seen like that, but which Benji obviously loves.  
“Sure,” Tori says quickly and Andre says: “You know we always love having him around.” They totally do.  
“Did he behave alright?” Beck checks.  
Robbie answers: “He was great. He’s becoming more and more his own person.” That is true and it’s wonderful and impressive to see. Tori has only met him when he was one year old already. But he has barely had his own personailty back then. He definitely has now. He can think on his own, he understands what’s going on.  
Beck smiles, looking at his son in Jade’s arms, rubbing his back. “He is. And he finds that he loves the word ‘no’.”  
“Like he should,” Jade claims with a smirk.  
But Tori guesses it must be pretty stressful. Yes, Benji totally is at an age where he loves the word ‘no’. Not that Tori has experienced it all that much yet but it’s also not like she has spent all that much time with Benji.  
And she remembers how Beck has said during their fight that it has been stressful lately and... well, maybe it has been about Benji. Maybe, Benji has lately been more difficult than before which has made Beck’s and Jade’s fighting worse like it does with them. And somehow, Beck has thought some distance would do Jade and him some good, not always sitting on each other. But Jade has interpreted that as him wanting to leave her. She has felt lonely but hasn’t said so, instead has ‘allowed’ him to leave every evening and somehow, it has ended up in a mess.  
They are over that now, Tori knows. Even if Benji keeps being difficult. They are through with that phase again, with their fighting. At least in this extreme way.  
“Wanna stay and play cards with us?” Tori now asks.  
Beck and Jade share a look before Beck answers: “I think we will go home now. Benji will have to go to bed soon anyway.”  
“Not tired,” Benji says, has listened and understood what has been said.  
Jade smirks again. “Of course, you’re not. Wanna wish everyone a good night?”  
“Good night,” Benji does say and waves to the friends. They all wave back as Beck grabs the bag and the small family leaves.  
The others also don’t stay up all that much longer. When Tori goes to bed, she is just glad that Beck and Jade have stayed together, that their family and possibly their group of friends haven’t broken apart somehow.

 

She’s not that sure she should be glad about it anymore when she experiences Beck and Jade in school over the next week. They don’t seem to stop touching each other at all. It’s as if they have to catch up on missed opportunities both weeks before. It totally is annoying as well, though when Tori stops and thinks about it... Yes, better like this than them having broken up. And it’s not like they will be like this forever. They just do have phases like this and their fighting phases. That’s how they work. Though Tori still hopes it will never ever get as bad again with the fighting as it has this time.  
Otherwise, Tori is very much occupied with Andre and his girlfriend this week. There is a moment she wonders if Andre only dates a girl that commanding and harsh because he’s still in love with Jade after all and has to get someone like her now that Beck and Jade are so close again. But she knows that that’s not true when Andre finally tells her the real reason why he’s still dating the girl. It’s because of her father which is so wrong but Tori of course is with him when he offers her to sing with him on her birthday party, in front of her father.  
They have a great time and her father likes them. And Andre and that girl finally break up again which means, everything is back to normal.

 

On Monday, Tori desperately tries to reach Cat from the minute she gets up. She has also tried to reach her the evening prior but without success. But she has remembered that they have a science project due Tuesday. Which suddenly already is tomorrow. They definitely have to work on that the whole day, possibly even through the breaks.  
Cat sits under Jade’s locker with a sad face though. Tori sits down next to her and finds out that Mona Patterson has passed away the night prior. She doesn’t know who that is but Cat says it’s her favorite actress and she wants to drive up to her house to light candles on her front porch. Tori agrees to drive to her house together, so she can hurry Cat a little and they can get to her house after that finally work on their project and still finish it over night.  
“So you’ll drive?” Cat asks.  
Oh. Okay. No, she can’t. “I don’t have a car to use today.” She shares the car with Trina who has gone away for a few days on a trip with friends – with the car.  
“Jade,” Cat suddenly says as she stands up. Tori stands up as well, also noticing their friend walking up to them, only shortly glancing at them, then to her locker which she opens.  
“What?”  
"Will you drive Tori and me to an old lady's house after school?" Cat innocently asks.  
Tori knows the answer before it comes: "No." But she quickly says: "Come on. I don't have a car at the moment."  
"Me neither," Jade slowly answers with a bored voice. "It broke down and Beck is still at it to fix it."  
Cat tilts her head. "What if my brother lets us borrow his car?"  
She looks at Jade at that but why try persuading her if... "I could also drive then," Tori notices.  
Cat turns to her with, shaking her head. "My brother is very particular about whom he lets to drive his car."  
And he's okay with Jade driving his car but not with Tori? Okay, Tori also has never met Cat's brother but... still.  
Cat already looks back to Jade with a pout. Jade rolls her eyes. "I won't drive you around to visit some strange woman."  
"Please," Cat makes sweetly and... Jade has a heart for Cat, Tori knows that. That's why she tries to explain: "Cat's really sad because this actress passed away last night and..."  
She gets interrupted by Jade, suddenly interest in her face: "Whoa! She passed away just last night?" Tori nods tentatively. "Then yeah. Yeah, I'll drive you guys to her house."  
"Why'd you change your mind?" Tori asks, totally weirded-out. She does have a feeling that Jade understood how sad Cat feels. But the way she answered... That sounded more like there was another reason. Or at least, as if Jade wanted them to believe she had another reason.  
In any case, Jade has a very creepy answer ready about the death of the woman still being so close and her spirit lingering and maybe, they shouldn't let her drive them there. But Jade has already decided to take them, after sundown, because apparently she doesn't like driving in the daylight. And with that, she closes her locker and leaves.  
Tori isn't sure if she should get into a car with Jade after dark, on the way to a dead person's house. But she has already promised Cat by now to also come with her and she should keep with Cat as they probably won't have finished their project by then and this way, they can keep working during the ride and Tori can make sure, Cat doesn't stay too long at the house and comes back to hers afterwards.  
She wants to ask Jade later when exactly she will pick them up or if she will text them before, when she finds Jade and Beck in the corner of a hallway kissing, like they sometimes just do, almost making out. Which they have done so much more again after their last big fight.  
She hesitates for a second but is then ready to interrupt them until she gets close enough to actually hear them talking while they stand close and only kiss every now and then.  
"So, I said I'd drive them," Jade just says. "You know... If that's okay with you."  
Beck answers: "Of course. You know I like when you spend time with them. And not because I don't want to spend time with you."  
Jade shrugs. "Sure. But I don't suddenly... want to leave you alone, you know."  
Beck draws her in for another kiss, before he says: "Don't worry. You just said you'd only leave after sundown. So, we still have the afternoon together. And after that, Benji will soon sleep anyway. And we're still on for the whole weekend, just you, me and Benji and every now and then just you and me?"  
"Sure," Jade says with a suggestive smile and as they kiss again, Tori decides to leave them at it for now and ask about the trip later.

The whole ride turns out to be a disaster with that excuse of a car and the rain, and then the woman not even being dead. Not to mention that it's apparently Cat's fault that that woman's house burned down. Wow.  
They suggest Jade to come in with them afterwards to dry and everything which she declines, uttering a few bad words before she leaves for her own home.


	15. Tori and Jade's Play Date and Driving Tori Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back again!  
> In this chapter, there is a birthday but it's not one of the two I announced in the previous chapter, that get a little more room. Just so you know. :D  
> Also, there are two episodes cut. April Fools' Blanks should've been between the two episodes in this chapter, while How Trina Got In should follow, but instead, the next chapter will start with Tori Goes Platinum.  
> Wish you a good time reading this!

Sikowitz plans to do another small play and decides to make them draw papers to get their roles. And suddenly, Tori ends up playing Jade’s wife. Great.  
They get to be parents of Beck and Andre who are supposed to be identical twins, which doesn’t fit at all. But they are as believable at being identical twins as Jade and Tori are at being a loving couple. Tori hopes they get around to it.  
Jade does a believable mother which isn't too surprising, considering she has a child at home. Tori thinks she personally also doesn't do too bad as a father and Beck and Andre definitely do fully fine in their roles.  
Beck is fiddling with Jade's apron on their second rehearsal during that one scene. Tori barely catches it and instantly thinks that that does make him look like he could be her son somehow. Yeah, because she has definitely seen Benji do that before. Fiddling like that with Jade's skirts and everything, when he has just stood with her - especially if he hasn't been sure about a situation or something.  
That's how Tori understands what Jade tells Beck after Sikowitz gives them a short break and Andre and Tori both turn to drink something: "I see you're starting to imitate our son."  
"I'm doing good, huh?" Beck asks with a grin, has maybe watched Benji's behaviour even more over the last few days to not even recognize it or understand it but actually being able to copy it.  
Jade smiles as well and draws Beck into a short kiss. Beck holds her close afterwards and says innocently: "You're also playing a mother very convincingly. I don't know where you get that."  
"Yeah, I know," Jade replies smirking. "I'm just that good."

It's their fifth rehearsal that Sikowitz interrupts. He has told Tori and Jade again and again that they would have to play their characters differently, that they are not convincing as husband and wife. But somehow they can't do it. Tori really tries but it's of no use. And suddenly, Sikowitz asks the both of them to be at Nozu that evening for dinner.  
Tori doesn't know what he plans to do, how he thinks to make them feel the roles more through dinner but of course she shows up for 7pm as asked.  
Sikowitz is soon with her and only shortly after, Jade also appears, looking bored and annoyed already. Well, this will certainly go great, whatever Sikowitz has planned.  
They find out only a minute later. Their teacher wants them to date. To actually spend the whole evening together, just the two of them. Until midnight, so for about five hours.  
Sinjin and Burf will watch them and make sure they don't leave each other or the restaurant, which is just awful. Tori isn't sure how they will survive such a long time. She definitely doesn't want to spend those five hours in silence because she's sure they would seem even longer then.  
And they are friends, aren't they? They are friends by now and Jade doesn't hate her, otherwise Tori couldn't have picked Benji up almost a year back, right? By now, Benji has truly grown much more into his own person but Beck said back then that it was still true Benji was good at picking up Jade's signals and reacted to it.  
Finally, she asks Jade to say something nice about her and they are actually able to do this. They say at least three things back and forth and Tori thinks about getting more out of Jade, getting her to talk more when they get interrupted by some awful guys that don't leave them alone.  
They are only able to send them running with singing Take A Hint and Tori has never sung together with Jade but their voices match quite well. And they have great fun. They are both even laughing when they sit back down and both agree that that has been fun.  
They shortly talk about the guys' dumb expressions as they have realized what was going on, and about how they have been hit on before when it's already after 9pm and Jade gets a text.  
She has gotten texts before, but this one makes her stand up and go to the door. She is not even close to it when Sinjin jumps in her way.  
"Where are you going?"  
"Out to make a phone call," Jade answers in a threatening voice.  
Sinjin shakes his head: "If you leave through this door, we will have to call Sikowitz."  
Jade narrows her eyes. "My son can't sleep and wants to hear my voice, so I'm gonna call him."  
So, the text has been by Beck and has been about Benji. Of course, Jade has gotten right up and does want to call Beck if Benji wants to hear her voice.  
Now, Burf also gets in Jade's way as he probably sees Sinjin slightly faltering under Jade's eyes. "You can do that. But at the table."  
Jade rolls her eyes as she turns back to Tori and sits back down next to her. "Gosh. Assholes."  
But she doesn't look at Tori or one of the two boys again but now does call Beck from the chair, she's sitting in.  
As it's already past Benji's bed time and he can't sleep, Tori gathers that this will be a quite private call, which is why Jade would have liked to make that outside. But now they are sitting right next to each other and Tori can't help hearing everything though she watches Burf and Sinjin walking back to their seats at first.  
"Hey," Jade says into the phone and only shortly after, softer: "Hey, Benji." Then again, in her normal voice: "Yeah, it's fine."  
Tori guesses Beck must have put the phone on speaker, so Benji and him are both able to hear her and talk to her.  
Now, her voice gets, again, much softer and more quiet: "I wish you a good night, baby. Yes, it's alright. Daddy's taking care of you, yeah? We'll see each other in the morning. Be good to your daddy. His birthday is coming up."  
It truly is only in three days.  
It takes a second, then: "Yes, birthday." And obviously talking to Beck again: "Yeah, I totally just tought him. So, you'll probably get a 'happy birthday' from your son this year. That should suffice as a present from me."  
Tori can't help looking to her by now and she sees her smirk. "Good."  
For a moment, Beck must talk, then Jade answers again: "Yeah, I'm only getting away in three hours. I'll see."  
Well, she doesn't mention that she and Tori actually just had a few good minutes together, though Tori hopes that them getting along now will continue at least until the end of their 'date'.  
Jade gets softer again: "Good night, Benji. I love you."  
Tori smiles. She barely hears Jade saying those words. Sometimes to Beck or Benji but she probably also does that more often in the privacy of their homes. But she does like the sound of those words out of Jade's mouth, how true she speaks them, with how much heart.  
Now, she even says, to Beck again, after he has probably talked again (and maybe Benji as well): "Love you, too. See you both tomorrow."  
And with that, she hangs up again and gets back to her food as if nothing has happened.  
Tori still looks at her smiling and finally says: "You know another thing I like about you?"  
Jade rolls her eyes, not sounding even close to how she has just talked to boyfriend and son: "Don't expect me to say something back again."  
Tori doesn't. This is something Jade should hear and has never heard before from Tori: "You're a great mom."  
Jade looks up to her for a moment, then turns back to her food, but Tori sees that there's almost a smile in her face.  
And she truly has never told Jade before. She has barely ever talked to Jade about Benji or the situation. But she feels like she should have long heard her view on all of this: "How is it? Having an almost two-year-old with 18?"  
That actually makes Jade roll her eyes yet again. "You know. You talk to Beck about it all the time." Well, of course she knows about her and Beck's talks.  
"Yeah, sure," Tori answers slowly. "But I'm assuming it's really different for everyone. I have no idea how I would feel."  
She sometimes does wonder about that. She sometimes does wonder how she would've reacted to a pregnancy herself at that age, how she would've handled it, if she would've been able to take care of an own child, when she still feels like a child herself sometimes today.  
But not only that. She doesn't know at all how it is to be a parent, how it feels to have a child of your own, no matter the age.  
And that seems to be the thing, Jade thinks about as she answers with a shrug: "You will never know until you experience it."  
Tori guesses that's true. She still would like to hear about it from Jade, who is so different than Beck after all, who must think about the whole situation so differently.  
And while Tori still considers if she should prompt Jade to tell her more or if that would annoy Jade too much and would make the remaining three hours unbearable, Jade actually continues on her own: "It changes your life. In all imaginable aspects. Nothing will be the same ever again. Suddenly, you have a child and so much responsibility and so many... worries to do everything right. You can never be a perfect parent but that doesn't stop you from trying."  
Tori hasn't known that Jade tried to be a perfect mother. She is a very good one, Tori thinks.  
She wants to say that again when Jade still keeps going, looking down to her food: "Sometimes, I truly wonder how much easier my life would be without Benji. But I'm still glad I had him because I love him more than anything and feeling him grow inside of me or just having him in my life is something so incredible that I never want to forget or unknow it."  
Tori smiles. She has never heard Jade talk like this and it warms her heart. It's not like Jade sounds very soft, saying those words. She still speaks roughly but her words and her eyes tell everything.  
"But it's tough," she now says. "A kid changes every one of your relationships forever. To your family, your friends and your boyfriend. It's weird. And then of course, at our age though also possibly at later ones, everyone's constantly watching you and checking if you're doing anything wrong.“ She sounds dsigusted now. “As if experiencing everything for the first time isn't enough, as if you don't feel pressured already to do good by your child. Our parents were good about it, but the rest of the family not so much. And the teachers acted like every step I took with Benji was wrong. Smith one time walked in on me changing Benji and actually wanted to show me how it's done right, as if I haven't had him for two months by then. Benji luckily started screaming so loud she quickly left again. He freaked out."  
"Because you freaked out," Tori puts in and Jade smirks, obviously happy about the memory: "He's good."  
Tori can imagine that that must have felt satisfying. Her son actually screaming around one of the teachers that has wanted to take Benji out of Jade's hands, while he was calm with her. It must have felt good in general to have Benji react badly to everyone Jade herself didn't like, which probably also made them keep away from Jade whenever Benji was with her because nobody can like him screaming.  
And there is this thing, Tori now softly puts in: "And he proves that you actually like me." Because she was able to pick up Benji without him crying at all while he was still barely a year old and so fixated on his mother's feelings.  
"He doesn't," Jade claims though and picks at the rest of her food.  
Tori wants to argue because Beck told her back then that it still held true, when Jade continues, rolling her eyes again: "But well... Whatever. You annoy me like crazy, but I guess everyone does. And I don't have anything against you personally. I did like how you handled the fight class incident" - Incident. Right. - "though I wouldn't have done anything anyway if you wouldn't have freaked out over it before."  
Tori raises her eyebrows. "So, it was my fault?"  
"It was," Jade answers and Tori wants to protest but Jade doesn't let her as she goes on: "Anyway... You're okay, I guess."  
Well, Jade saying that is more important for now than her claiming it was her fault that she pretended Tori hit her. Jade has actually confessed that she finds her okay.  
"You are hostile against me though," she notices. More hostile than she is against the rest of their friends. Even Rex, in Tori's opinion, though Jade clearly doesn't like him.  
Jade's answer comes annoyed: "You are a threat to Beck and me, okay?"  
If she would've stood, she would've taken a step back. "I'm not. I would never take Beck from you." After all, they even have a child together. Who would break up a family? Jade can't honestly think she would ever do that.  
"This is not about you," Jade says, finally looking up at her again. "I may hate any girl flirting with Beck but barely any of them are threats though all of them want to steal him away from me. You're a threat because I know he can easily fall for you."  
"What? He never..." Tori starts, a little lost for words though. She can barely comprehend what Jade is saying. Are they actually having this talk?  
Jade almost snaps at her. "I know him better than anyone, okay? I know what it looks like when he finds a girl attractive and I know how he talks when he likes someone's character. Sometimes, I wonder if he would've broken up with me to test it out with you if Benji wasn't around."  
"He never would have," Tori immediately says. She still can't believe they are even talking about this. Jade is honestly afraid that Beck could fall for her, Tori? Beck who loves Jade more than anything in the world, who looks at her in that certain way, who again and again tells her how much he loves her, who is an honest and truthful person.  
Jade raises her eyebrows at her: "You know him better than me?"  
And well... That's not what Tori is saying. "No. Of course not. But... He loves you. He loves you more than anything." Why should he ever get the idea to 'test it out' with someone else?  
Jade also doesn't seem to question his love for her, but... "We're still teenagers though. Our relationship is tough with Benji as we sometimes talk about nothing but him for days and don't go out alone for weeks and forget that we're also a couple, not just parents. But I know, it also would be tough without Benji as we still would fight as much, possibly even more. We did before. Why shouldn't he go for an easier relationship?"  
Okay, that's true, Tori guesses. They don't have an easy relationship and she has wondered in her first few weeks, before she knew about Benji, why Beck even kept up with it. But by now, she knows both of them much better, she has experienced their relationship.  
"Even if he would have..." she therefore says. "I'm sure he would've also always come back to you. He loves you and also would if Benji didn't exist. He isn't only with you because of him."  
Jade looks at her for another second, then back to her food. Is she honestly not sure about that? Is Jade, this tough and self-confident girl, really so insecure about her relationship with Beck?  
Tori tilts her head and then slowly says: "You know... When I first came to Hollywood Arts, I wondered about Beck and you. But it makes a lot of sense. You're very different and opposites attrack and I think you do need each other to balance each other out." Jade obviously needs Beck in her life for the calmness and the steadiness. As someone who can hold her down. But Beck probably also needs Jade to keep his life interesting, to drag him with her, to experience life.  
She continues: "On the other hand... If you look deeper, you're also very alike. You're both very strong and caring people for example. And you probably also each need that to mirror in the other person, which it does. You work because you each are exactly what the other needs, different and alike."  
Jade looks at her again and finally, rolls her eyes and gives a groan: "See? You annoy me again. You should think about studying psychology. Best somewhere far, far away, so I don't have to listen to you anymore."  
Okay, she's rude again and Tori isn't sure why. She opens her mouth to call Jade out for it when Jade's phone vibrates that still lies next to her on the table.  
She takes a look and smiles, then she probably texts something back. Only after that, she shows Tori her phone, still smiling: "Look."  
"N'aw!" Tori instantly makes. Beck has sent her a photo of Benji fast asleep in his crib in the RV.  
Interested, she asks: "You also send each other photos at night?"  
She does still remember that they send each other photos of their son if one of them can't see him in the morning for some reason.  
"Not often," Jade answers, not looking away from her phone where she just now receives another text. "But he knows I'm sitting here with you and wants to prevent me killing you by sending cute photos of Benji."  
"That's thoughful of him," Tori answers dryly when Jade, smiling again, shows her her phone another time: "See."  
It's another photo of Benji, his position slightly changed, looking just as cute as on the last one. And Jade acts so much like a proud mother, showing off her child.  
Tori watches her smiling as she texts Beck back, and she thinks somehow, she and Jade have gotten closer today after all. First through the song but then also through the talk they just had. Maybe, Jade just couldn't react any differently than shutting her off again. What else could she have said? But maybe, it has meant something to her. She now does share photos of her son with Tori, so proudly.  
The rest of the evening goes by much faster, them somehow talking a little about Benji, then about school, when it's already past midnight and Sinjin and Burf tell them they're leaving now.  
They also go home and it's not like everything is changed between them after that. But curiously, they finally are able to act like a married couple. It's suddenly even easy to fall in those roles and Tori is more than impressed with Sikowitz for getting that done.

Their performance goes amazingly and it's Beck's birthday after that. He also invites them out to eat, just their group of friends and Benji, and they have a good time out, with Benji saying 'happy birthday' to Beck several times (of course being prompted by Cat most of those times).

 

On Monday, her mother surprinsingly tells her that the direct way to school is shut off for some filming for two weeks. Which means that suddenly, she would need 45 minutes to school - if she could get to school at all. The car, Trina and she share, is in the shop at the moment, which usually means that one of her parents is dropping her off or she takes the bus. But none of her parents have time for that or are able to lend her their cars, and the bus now also can't take its usual route and the other way takes so much longer and there are crazy people all over it anyway.  
She complains about it to her friends of course and it's Beck, who offers before one of their classes: "I can drive you."  
"Really?" Tori asks with delight.  
"Yeah," Beck says with a shrug. "I guess I don't want Jade to have to wake up early, but I could get you first, then pick up Jade and shortly say hi to Benji and then we would be good to go."  
Tori has forgotten right that second that Beck would of course also drive by Jade's house and would stop there to say hello to his son - who apparently sleeps there at the moment.  
"Oh, I don't want to steal time away from Benji," Tori quickly says. If Beck will have to pick her up first, he won't have too much time with him in the morning as he probably also doesn't want to start driving to school at 5am or something, just to also get Tori.  
"No, it's fine," Beck says though. "It won't be for forever, right? If you're okay with having to get going even earlier, so we can also make it to Jade's, it's fine."  
Well, and Tori is sure, it still will go faster than the bus as it’s just a small detour to Jade’s on the long way, so of course it's also fine with her. Especially as she don’t have to meet all those crazy people on the bus then. Naturally, she agrees.

He arrives at her house right on time and she jumps into the car. They share a greeting and then talk about how they slept and what they expect today in school while they drive further to Jade's home.  
As he stops in the driveway there, she asks: "Should I wait in the car?"  
She isn't sure how long it will take and how much both Beck and Jade would accept her there, especially Jade though.  
"You can come in with me," Beck says though and so, Tori does.  
Beck goes straight in without ringing the bell or knocking on the door, which isn't locked. Tori closes the door behind her as she follows him inside to the kitchen.  
"Good morning," he says into the room.  
Jasper is sitting at the small kitchen table and eats cereals. Jade rocks Benji slightly in one of her arms and eats from an own bowl of cereal, standing next to the table as if in a hurry, while Benji eats a waffle.  
A woman leans against the kitchen counter, drinking a coffee. She has brown hair and brown eyes and must be in her late thirties, definitely younger than Beck's parents but also definitely Jade's mother.  
"Morning, Beck," she says with a soft smile that doesn't look like Jade at all.  
"Hey, Beck," Jasper also says while Beck steps up to Jade and shares a short kiss with her.  
"Daddy," Benji says in form of greeting, quite lazily though, and Beck already draws him out of Jade's arms and kisses his cheek, while Jade now sits down to eat her cereals easier.  
Meanwhile, Jade's mother has seen Tori and says: "Oh, hello."  
"Hi. I'm Tori," she quickly says and the woman nods: "Ah. Caitlyn Anderson."  
They shake hands and that's that. Beck has gone over to the coffee machine, pours himself a cup and then turns to Tori: "Also want a coffee?"  
"No, thanks," she answers and he leans against the kitchen counter himself, coffee in his hand, Benji in his other arm. Benji now also leans heavily against him, still eating his waffle and looking over to Tori.  
Tori smiles. "Hi, Benji," she says, waving to him.  
He sleepily waves back and says: “Hi, Tori.”  
She blinks. “Oh, my god,” she then says excited. “Have you just said my name?”  
Benji does know all the friends’ names, always knows to whom he has to go if Beck for example tells him to go to one of them. He also knows how to say Cat, Andre and Robbie. Cat must have been the first actual name Benji has learned, which Tori doesn’t consider too weird, because Cat has probably also told Benji her name a thousand times when he was still a baby, and as her name also is an animal, which you just teach children early on through books and everything.  
He has also learned to say the names Andre and Robbie over time, has babbled all their names, but those have also gotten much more clear over time, easily recognizeable.  
He has never said Tori this clearly before, actually really her name. It sounds so sweet and perfect out of his mouth.  
Benji looks at her scepitcal now, as if he considers the question weird, not happy about her excitement. Tori also catches Jade rolling her eyes, while Beck rubs Benji’s back though and says with a smile: “I think he did.” He turns to the boy: “Good job, baby. See how happy Tori is?”  
Benji doesn’t seem interested and just keeps eating his waffle sleepily. Beck shrugs with a smile in Tori’s direction, only then he asks into the room: “How did he sleep anyway?”  
"Not good," Jade answers and Jasper adds: "Even I woke up twice tonight because he screamed so loud."  
Ms. Anderson can reach him from where she stands and goes with her hand through his hair with a smile. That almost does look like Jade with Benji.  
"Oh, is he difficult at the moment?" Tori curiously asks. The last thing she heard was rather positive, Benji not being all that difficult over night at the moment (while being more difficult throughout the day).  
"Well, he's in a phase," Ms. Anderson gently says and Jade rolls her eyes: "He's always in a phase."  
Ms. Anderson smiles and looks to Benji, a look he returns. "Yes, but he'll be really good to his nana this morning. And then he can get right back to being really difficult in the evening."  
She glances to Jade after that and suddenly opens up she dishwasher and obviously right on time because Jade is done with her cereal, stands up and puts bowl and spoon away as she says: "You wish. Now, let's get going."  
The last part is directed to Beck, who drowns his coffee, also puts his cup away and then kisses Benji's cheek again before he hands him over to Ms. Anderson.  
Jade also kisses him in her mother's arms, whispers something to him, then even touches Jasper while she passes him, then she grabs her bag and is on her way out.  
Tori quickly follows her and Beck does as well after saying goodbye to Ms. Anderson and Jasper.  
Of course, Jade sits in the front now and Tori finds her place in the back. As they start driving to school, she can't help but break the silence: "You look so much like a family."  
Naturally, she has experienced Beck, Jade and Benji as a family before. They obviously are one, though it has taken Tori a while to attach that word to them.  
But this has somehow been even more... The way, Beck has just walked into Jade's home as if it's also his... which it probably is in a way. And Jade's mother and brother are obviously used to him being there, he is used to being there, grabbing his own coffee and everything. He just sort of is part of the routine in the house in one way or another and it truly has looked like a family.  
Beck looks at her with a smile through the rearview mirror. Jade turns to him though, annoyed: "I will kill you if you'll take her with us for one more day."  
Wow, okay. Whatever Tori has done wrong. Later on, she guesses, she has already talked too much that early for Jade's taste.  
"Come on," Beck gently says. "She needs a ride."  
Jade cocks an eyebrow. "Your child is keeping me up again every damn night. I won't deal with her every morning."  
Beck shrugs. "Benji can sleep with me for these days."  
The way, Jade glares at him for that, shows that that's clearly not the solution and Beck never falters under her glare but maybe he thinks that this isn't worth any kind of fight or making Jade angry, at least he looks back to Tori through the mirror after another moment. "Well, Tori... I hope I was at least able to give you a somewhat nice drive for one day."  
He has. And Andre and Robbie try on the next two days though not nearly succeed as well. Then, Cat scores her a party bus for the ride to school, which is amazing and which the whole group of friends enjoy.  
On the weekend, they finally get their car back and her parents allow her to have it all on her own for the second week though Trina complains about it.


	16. Tori Goes Platinum and Crazy Ponnie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Two "little" things are changed in these two episodes. The first one is really little - in Tori Goes Platinum, when Jade takes the job in school and hooks her arm with Mason, she smirks back to Tori and Beck over her shoulder. She doesn't do that here, because I otherwise changed the episode bigly. ;P I also changed something in Crazy Ponnie: I made the thing between Cat and Jade a lot less worse.  
> Hope you like it. Still always love to hear what you think. :)

They are looking for a completely unknown talent to open the Platinum Music Awards. Everyone is invited to audition; of course they all do.  
And Tori barely knows what's happening but she actually gets the job. She gets to open the Platinum Music Awards.  
She can't believe it but suddenly, she's right in the middle of it. Mason Thornesmith gives her the good news while she’s in school and at lunch, she of course talks about barely anything else that day.  
She’s supposed to go to his office that evening (after some person is supposed to come to her home in the afternoon to have her parents sign the contract) and at lunch, Andre promptly decides: “I’ll come with you!”  
“Sure, why not?” Tori immediately answers because noone has told her she has to come alone and she thinks it would be great to take her friends with her: “You can all come.”  
“I will!” Cat happily says, clapping her hands. Robbie meanwhile pulls a face: “I can’t come. I promised to visit my aunt.”  
“Loser,” Rex chirps up and Robbie looks offended, but doesn’t get to fight with Rex, as Jade chooses that moment to decide: “I’ll come.”  
“You will?” Tori asks surprised. While Tori has naturally been on a real high since she got to know about getting the job, Jade’s mood has gotten pretty bad. Well... She of course wanted the job as well, so... Tori can’t imagine Jade wanting to be around her even more right now.  
“I will,” Jade pointedly says. “I have to actually meet the guy that picked you over me.”  
Okay, so that’s why she wants to come.  
Tori shrugs: “Sure. You can come as well.” Because she doesn’t see why she shouldn’t allow Jade. She doesn’t think she will actually ruin this for her or anything. And if meeting Mason is what she needs... Well, whatever.  
“Like I need your permission,” Jade darkly says though and gosh. Tori hopes she’ll get over this soon and gets around to be happy for her, as they are friends. Their other friends are happy for her after all.  
Beck rubs Jade’s arm, as if to calm her down, and says: “Well, I think I’ll stay home with Benji then. He doesn’t like meeting new people too much these days.”

Tori ends up talking alone to Mason after Jade, Cat and Andre only shortly being in a room with them and then being driven to a bibble factory.  
And Mason asks her to... change. She’s supposed to dress outrageous, which she gets a little sick about. But it’s just an outfit. She does get to open the Platinum Music Awards in turn, will get famous. It’s fine. She just has to dress like that until then.  
Of course, everyone in school makes awful comments about her outfits, her friends more than anyone. Especially Jade of course, who seems like she has only waited for this.  
And then, they are even media coming to school, suddenly all those camera in Sikowitz’ classroom, which probably makes everyone in her class dislike her even more. She doesn’t like it at all.  
But it gets even worse. She isn’t just supposed to dress terribly, she’s also supposed to behave like that.  
She hates every second of it. When she’s out with Andre, it gets really awful. She understands everyone talking about her in school after that, though it makes her shake and feel so damn sick.  
It’s in the evening that day that she sits at home and wishes she could just vanish. Or that she could stop with all of this. Or at least tell, because everyone does believe she has changed like this, which is just terrible.  
The door bell rings and Trina leaves the living room running when Beck is coming in as she has just applied a cucumber mask to her face.  
Tori feels so bad, she doesn’t even ask about Benji or anything – though she assumes anyway that he’s with Jade then.  
They sit down together and Beck asks why she isn’t happy to be able to open the award show, and how much would she like to tell him, but she isn’t allowed to. But Beck actually then tells her that he knows she’s made to do this. She is so damn thankful! He knows. She hasn’t told him but he knows anyway. There’s someone she can talk to about this.  
They do talk for some time. Tori’s mother comes home in between, but luckily leaves for her room, so Tori and Beck can talk among themselves some more.  
Tori is supposed to do another awful thing tomorrow, but Beck says she shouldn’t. She also should wear her usual clothes.  
“They can’t do this,” he says. “And they won’t be able to replace you that fast.”  
It’s true that it’s already the day after tomorrow. She feels unsure, but Beck also asks her when all of this will end. She does want a career in the music business and Mason can give her exactly that, has promised her a lot in case she does an amazing opening performance. But that means she will have to behave and dress like this for forever.  
Therefore, Beck is right of course. She should just stop it. She will still get her opening performance and can hopefully prove to Mason through that, that she can still be good and relevant and people can love her like this.

Encouraged by Beck, she dresses like her usual self the next day, but she is so damn nervous as she waits for Mason and the cameras to show up. Beck is with her during the first break, where they expect them. She’s so scared.  
Rightfully so. Mason promptly decides, she won’t open the Platinum Music Awards. She feels dreadful and sick.  
Beck tells Mason that he won’t be able to replace her, as the show is already tomorrow, but Mason is not impressed. He looks around thoughtfully and there stands Jade. Jade, whom he has already recognized quite a few days earlier as another person having sent in an audition tape. Jade of course also is an amazing singer and he also must remember that. At least he decides that she will get the job instead.  
“Me?” Jade asks and it’s not like she instantly says ‘no’ to it.  
“You gave a really fantastic audition if I recall,” Mason says. Yes, he does remember.  
“Thanks,” Jade answers and then, the question comes by Mason: “How would you like to sing the opening number tomorrow night at the Platinum Music Awards?”  
Jade fleetingly glances to Beck and Tori, then looks back to Mason. Gosh. She’s going to agree.  
Beck also must see it, at least he suddenly says: “No way.”  
Jade can’t do it. And yet, not even a second later: “Absolutely.”  
Mason gleefully walks over to Jade and makes her hook her arm with his. “Come here. We have much to discuss.”  
Jade doesn’t look back as she leaves with Mason, the whole bulk of people, he brought with him, following the two of them. Tori can’t believe it.  
She and Beck look after them for a long time, not even reacting to the bell ringing.  
Not only did she, Tori, loose her big chance; Jade gets it instead. And it's not like she wouldn't be happy for Jade if she would've gotten this in the first place but... she hasn't. Tori has. And it feels like Jade has taken it away from her. As if Jade has betrayed her because she should've stood by her as her friend and should have called Mason out for it like Beck did, instead of pretty much induldging his behaviour by accepting the job after Tori has been treated so badly.  
"She can't do this," Beck also murmurs. He seems to be in a state of total disbelieve.  
"Why shouldn't she?" Tori asks, desperately. "Of course, she does. This is just her way of getting back at me." For something. For even the possibilty of Beck falling for her. For Beck again helping her out instead of staying with Jade and their son. For something like that. And Tori has believed they really are over any kind of resentment by now, they are close friends.  
"No," Beck says, still not looking at Tori but after Jade. "She wouldn't do this. She really wanted this job but... not in this way. This isn't what she does. She knows as well that you have been acting that way because of them. And she hates that show business works like that so often.” Tori doesn’t know if Jade also knows about Tori’s behaviour because she has also guessed right, or because Beck has told her after his talk with Tori. She also doesn’t care too much right now.  
Instead, she notices: "Obviously not if it works in her favor.”  
She feels so damn sick. How could she be so dumb? Why didn't she just keep acting like they wanted her to? It would've only been two more days.  
Though would it have stoppped after that?  
"We'll talk to her. I swear something's up," Beck says now though, but it sounds mostly as if he wants to convince himself of that in Tori’s ears.

Jade doesn't come back to school that day and Beck tells Tori to come with him to her house. Tori does, though she wants nothing more than get home and get into bed with the biggest bucket of ice cream.  
Beck again walks into the home as if he lives there himself. Tori closes the door behind her while he already walks further into the living area where Benji sits in the corner, that's dedicated to him, and plays there with some of his toys. He has turned around as he hears the door though and now smiles brightly.  
"Daddy," he says, stands up and runs to Beck, who pulls him up, smiling almost as brightly.  
"Hey, baby," he says. "How was your day?"  
"Good," the young boy says and Beck turns further to Ms. Anderson, who Tori has also noticed by now. She stands at the kitchen counter and just pushed some folders into a briefcase.  
"Hey," Beck says to her and she smiles: "Hello, you two."  
Tori also nods before Ms. Anderson looks back to Beck: "Where's Jade?"  
Tori wants to say that that's exactly what she asks herself but Beck easily answers: "She's doing a song again with Andre."  
"She won't be in school again until the middle of the night, will she?" her mother asks and Beck smiles: "I hope not. They just need to record it, so..."  
"Okay," Ms. Anderson nods. "Then you three have a good day. Benji didn't hold a too long nap today, so he'll probably be tired early. But he ate well."  
"Great. Thanks," Beck says and as Ms. Anderson passes, she runs her hand through the young boy's hair, and says: "See you tomorrow, Benji."  
"Bye-bye, Nana," Benji answers and with that, Ms. Anderson is gone.  
"Why did you lie?" Tori immediately asks, as soon as the door is closed behind the woman.  
Beck sets Benji down again: "Go back to your toys, huh?" Benji nods and gets back into his game before Beck turns to Tori, makes a gesture for both of them to sit down on the couch in the house they both don't live in, and says: "She needs to get to work and it's not like I could easily explain where Jade might or might not be. So, before I say something along the lines of not being able to really tell her right now and worrying her that Jade got herself into trouble... Well..."  
Okay, that's fair. Though Ms. Anderson now will find out that Beck lied to her as soon as Jade will tell her all about the Platinum Music Awards and how she will open them. Beck doesn't think about that or doesn't feel uncomfortable about it.  
Anyway... "I should just go. You should spend time with your son and it's not like Jade will say anything that I'll like to hear and I will only hate her for it."  
She gets back up after just having sat down but Beck quickly says: "Stay. Come on. Trust me. There's something going on. Just... Let's wait for her. If there isn't something going on, I'll let you leave immediately."  
It's the way he looks at her. And of course he is one of her best friends and she does trust him. And maybe, she trusts Jade as well. She wants there to be something else going on. She wants Jade to not have used this chance for her own career despite her friends or to take revenge for somthing in some way.  
She shrugs. "Okay. What are we gonna do then?"  
They play with Benji. Beck gets some of his toys on the coffee table and soon they all drive a car or a truck all over it, sometimes crashing into each other, mainly Benji crashing into them and expecting great sound effects which Beck always does and Tori then does as well.  
It doesn't take too long though for Jade to come home.  
She only shortly glances at Tori and Beck, then she already gets occupied by her son that has of course also immediately noticed her, has dropped his truck and runs up to her happily.  
"Hey, baby," Jade says as she hugs him up in her arms and then gives him a kiss. "Everything okay with you?"  
"Yeah," Benji answers and Jade looks back to Tori and Beck and almost spits out: "You look like a happy little family."  
That makes Tori jump up and everything inside of her boil. "You don't get to be like that. I get to be angry at you!"  
"Oh, do you now?" Jade asks, raising her eyebrow.  
Beck now stands up as well and gently asks: "Why did you take that job, Jade?"  
"Everyone would've taken it," Jade says, rolling her eyes.  
"I wouldn't have," Beck reasons. "Because of how they treated Tori, who is a friend of ours."  
Jade starts rubbing Benji's belly as the boy looks between his parents, obviously unsure of what's going on, if they are about to get into a fight or not.  
And she answers: "Then, they would've gone to the next person and they would've said yes. Someone would've taken this job. It's ridiculous to assume otherwise, to assume that they wouldn't find anyone to do it, just because it's already tomorrow afternoon. As if there aren't enough talented people lining up for a chance like this."  
"But they are not my friends, Jade! I thought you were," Tori says and almost feels close to tears, because she has lost a great chance and she feels so betrayed by Jade though she gets what she's saying and knows she would've lost it either way.  
"And I should give up on opportunities because we’re friends?" Jade dryly asks and Tori glances to Beck for help but he seems again in a state of disbelieve, as if he doesn't know Jade anymore.  
Jade also looks to Beck, back to Tori before she rolls her eyes again: "Gosh, are you stupid? You know... A friend of yours could just pretend to prepare for the show and then let you go in their place instead, so you would be up on stage anyway."  
"Wait. What?" Tori asks confused.  
Jade explains, apparently annoyed: "I said I would do it, so they aren't searching for another person, who will actually do it. I will let them dress and prepare me for it and then you can come in and get on stage. I don't get why they picked you over me, but they did, and they treated you like shit and you should get your shot. I'm not just a singer anyway. I'm more of an actress and that's what I wanna be famous for one day."  
Tori needs a moment. She knows Jade only said that last part to pretend again like she doesn't care much. But of course, she still would've loved to get this chance. But she chooses not to act on it. For Tori. She's ready to still have Tori let her chance.  
"Oh, god, Jade!" she finally utters and jumps up to her to hug her but Jade puts her hand up with which she isn't holding Benji: "No! Or I will get up on that stage myself."  
Tori turns helplessly because she feels so relieved and happy and she has to hug someone and... well. There's Beck and he also looks happy and she walks over to him and he definitely goes into the hug as well when Jade cuts through: "Even more of a no!"  
"You have to let me hug someone!" Tori says and Jade looks at Tori for a moment, before she eventually hands her Benji: "Knock yourself out." Well, Jade knows she doesn't need to protect her son from her, Tori, while her possessiveness gets into the way of letting Tori touch Beck, so she actually lets her hug her son.  
And Benji even starts laughing gleefully as Tori jumps up and down with him and hugs him tightly. "Your mommy is amazing, Benji! I'm gonna be opening the Platinum Music Awards!"  
She still sees Beck finally walking up to Jade and drawing her into a close kiss, and then she hears him say: "I knew there was something up."  
"Well..." Jade just answers and they kiss again until Tori is pretty much done celebrating for now.  
Only then, Beck suddenly asks, sounding concerned: "But what about your career? Mason won't like your scheme."  
And she could get pretty much blackballed because of that. Tori hasn't thought about that. Damn. She doesn't want to get Jade hurt through this in any way - especially after she has saved this chance for her.  
Jade doesn't seem worried though: "If Tori doesn't screw up, everyone will love her. As if Mason won't claim, that he wanted her there all along. Noone will know about this."  
And she suddenly glares over to Tori: "So, don't screw this up."  
"I won't," Tori quickly promises and Jade nods, draws away from Beck, pulls Benji back out of Tori's arms and walks over to the kitchen.  
"Have you eaten well, baby?" she asks him as she opens the fridge, maybe to check on the food or to see what she could possibly eat now.  
And while Benji answers and he and Jade talk lightly (Benji as best as he can with Jade pretty much understanding everything), Tori still feels so relieved. She turns to Beck to thank him for everything (which she remembers she also still has to say to Jade) and sees Beck watching Jade and their son with such a loving smile that seems so private that Tori decides to not interrupt.  
Instead, she waits in silence for a while before Jade finally talks to Beck and pulls him out of his trance. Only then, she quickly thanks both of them and then, leaves them alone.

Jade does manage to get her on stage and sits down in the audience herself.  
The performance goes great and Tori actually has more than just her foot in the door of the music business now. She feels immensely blessed.

 

It does mean a lot of work to get into the music business, Neutronium Records now having signed her on, and as finals are drawing closer once again (though it's still February), Tori has suddenly a whole lot to do. And somehow, she doesn't get enough sleep at all anymore, especially now with the one-act play, she has to write for Sikowitz, and Trina being sick and blowing her nose loudly each night, and... how are Beck and Jade able to survive when they are taking care of Benji over night and still go to school, manage to get good grades and do all their assignments and even do plays and stuff next to it?  
Though they at least are able to split the work on Benji, to sleep at least every few nights through. Tori isn't sure when she really has gotten enough sleep the last time.  
But she finds out that Jade and Beck also don't have nights off again.  
On Wednesday, Benji suddenly is in Beck’s arms in the morning again. The whole group of friends, except Cat, stands in front of Jade’s locker, when Tori comes in, not too long before the bell.  
For a moment, she considers, Benji could just be a figment of her imagination somehow, because of lack of sleep. She hasn’t imagined any people yet, but some stuff hasn’t been as it really is due to her just being too tired.  
But Benji truly is there.  
Tori doesn’t even bother going to her own locker, but directly walks up to her friends, who already see her, before she says a greeting, and look at her almost horrified. Even Benji – though he luckily doesn’t start crying like back when Cat made a zombie out of Tori.  
“I know, I know,” Tori quickly says, before anyone can make a comment; Jade looks ready to shoot. “Jessie the janitor already told me that I look tired and awful.”  
That’s true. She has deemed herself fine this morning looking in the mirror but she has just arrived in the parking lot when Jessie has already seen her and has promptly told her exactly that. What a great start into the day!  
“We’re not saying that,” Andre says.  
Jade nods: “We are not.” For a short moment, Tori is surprised. She won’t say anything mean to her? But of course she is: “Because you look more than awful.”  
“Thank you so much,” Tori gives back sarcastically.  
“Honestly: It does get worse with you every day,” Robbie says but sounding worried, not mean.  
Well, noone has ever told her, she actually looks worse every day. She does feel worse every day. Though she knows it will get better again soon. She’s recording her first single at the moment, but Mason has promised her a break after that. That’s just supposed to come out quickly after the show, but Mason does agree with Tori and her parents that finals for high school are important, so she’s supposed to concentrate on that after the single – though they already will plan the album for after her graduation.  
But first, the single, that’s soon done. Also, some projects are due for the weekend or at the beginning of next week, so she can see an end to her terrible stress at the moment.  
“There’s so much going on,” she says though, because at the moment it is. But there’s no use talking about it. She has already explained and complained to her friends over the last few days that she has no time for anything at all anymore. Talking about her exhaustion actually makes her feel more exhausted. (Not to mention that she’s afraid her friends will get annoyed at her for complaining too much to them about the work for her music career – as she should be happy about getting the chance they are still waiting for.)  
So, she changes the topic, turns to Benji, is interested in any case: “Anyway... What are you doing here again?”  
Benji shrugs. “Don’t know,” he says and looks to his father, in whose arms he sits. Beck smiles and runs his hand through his hair, before he answers, but talking to Benji: “Your nana is on a business trip again for the whole week and neither Granny nor Pop were able to get today and tomorrow off, huh?”  
“Yes,” Benji says.  
So, he’ll be around again for two days.  
Tori nods to show she has registered the answer, then she asks into the group: “And where’s Cat?”  
Andre, Robbie and Beck instantly look to Jade, whose face almost showed a smile as she watched Benji and Beck. Now, she glares at Tori, as if she just said a horrible thing.  
Beck finally says: “She doesn’t dare being close to Jade at the moment.”  
“Why?” Tori asks confused.  
“They spent last evening together and...” Beck starts, but it’s Jade who finishes darkly: “She reshaped my eyebrows.”  
“Because you asked her to,” Beck gently says and that of course also makes Jade glare at him.  
“Not like this,” she spits out and points to her own eyebrows. Well, okay. Now, that Tori knows, she sees it. It looks as if Jade’s eyebrows were plucked or waxed and not like they usually are. They are very weirdly shaped now though Jade has covered it by painting over it. But it’s actually still pretty obvious. Tori is sure she just hasn’t noticed before, because she’s so tired.  
Jade adds bitterly: “Benji even laughed when I got back to the RV yesterday.”  
And she glares around their group, as if to say she will kill anyone except her son, who will laugh at her. Robbie almost takes a step back. Surely, he won’t dare laughing at her.  
Benji meanwhile leans his head against Beck’s shoulder, watching his mother with a face that could even interpreted as guilt though he probably doesn’t feel guilty at all.  
Beck rubs his back while he calmly tells Jade: “He laughs about everything and you know that.”  
Jade ignores him and just darkly says: “I’ll kill her.” Okay, naturally, Cat isn’t with them, despite Benji being around. Tori would also run as far as she could if Jade would say that about her in that tone.  
The bell rings only a second after Jade said that and Tori needs a moment to figure out where she has to go, what her first class even is, but then she remembers, that her first class is with Beck on Wednesdays, so she joins him. He’s also the one to take Benji with him for first class and it’s while they go to the classroom that Tori suddenly wonders. It’s probably because she’s totally out there by now and her mind just jumps from one thing to another. In any case... It suddenly doesn’t make sense for her that Jade spends the nights at Beck’s whenever her mother is away. Jade is old enough to stay home alone. She’s even eightteen now. And Jade and Beck are always more stressed when they spend the nights together and have to go to school after those nights, because neither gets enough sleep then with Benji around. Yes, Tori hasn’t noticed during this week, but probably because she’s just too tired herself.  
And because she’s so tired herself, she just can’t understand why Beck and Jade spend these nights together again with neither getting to sleep the night through. Tori herself longs for a full night of sleep. Beck and Jade must long for it as well.  
Of course, maybe Jade doesn’t sleep at Beck’s this time, but she did all the other times (and they don’t even need to take Benji with them to school to be more stressed if they spend the nights together and have to be up for school; it’s always noticable when Jade’s mother is on a business trip – though it has gotten better and better since Tori first has met Beck and Jade; she guesses that Benji also starts sleeping better and better).  
But Jade has said Benji has laughed at her yesterday when she has gotten back to the RV. Why should she have gone to the RV after an evening with Cat if not to stay there for the night?  
“Is Jade staying with you again?” Tori asks anyway to make sure.  
Beck is surprised about the question but answers: “She is.”  
“Why though?” Tori promptly questions. “It’s tough if neither of you gets to sleep through and then have to be up early and fit and concentrated here in school, isn’t it?”  
Beck shrugs and runs his hand through his son’s hair while they step into the classroom. “It sometimes is.”  
They sit down next to each other, Benji on Beck’s lap, and Tori asks: “Why do you do it then? She’s old enough to stay on her own, isn’t she?” She definitely is, as Tori remembers just then that Jade has actually been on her own when Beck’s grandfather has passed away and Beck was in Canada with his family and Benji while Jade’s mother was on another business trip. And she wasn’t alone. She even took care of her brother next to it.  
“She is,” Beck therefore also confirms. “Though her mom naturally likes it better if there are people watching over her, while she’s gone. But yeah, she could stay home alone during night. She even could have Benji alone over night without anyone being anxious about it.” He himself seems to think about the time in Canada though and adds: “It has only been a problem after all when I was in Canada, because she would’ve had to take care of him around the clock on her own with still going to school and everything. But yeah...”  
He shrugs and slowly goes on: “We do love sharing the same bed. We do love waking up to each other. It may be tough sometimes and it may be easier in our day to day life to each have Benji a few nights when we both have to be up and concentrated in the morning, but we still love spending our nights together, which is also why we almost always do it on weekends or during breaks. And why should she stay alone in her house or just with Benji when she can also sleep in the RV?” Tori guesses, Jasper is at his father’s and therefore also isn’t in Jade’s home.  
He looks to Benji. He has put his bag next to him on his lap, probably to get out paper and pen for class. Instead, Benji now works himself through it.  
“Also,” he finally says, looking back to Tori. “It’s always good to try again. We do want to have more kids one day, you know.”  
Tori is sure the exhaustion has gotten to her now and she has misheard.  
Beck smiles as he notices her face. “You know, like... when we’re actually done with our education and have started our careers, earning our own money. It’s good to see that we can actually do it, even though at times it may work better for us to sleep apart.”  
She nods, though she still doesn’t know if she hasn’t misheard. The teacher comes in anyway at that point.  
Her thoughts are still hung up a little on that. She isn’t even close to thinking about having a child at all and Beck and Jade have talked about having a second child one day? Can that be true?  
Though Tori guesses that’s something that does come up if you have a child. The possibilty for a second. Though they’ll probably make sure that the next one comes in a time, where it fits much better – and is actually planned.

So, she hasn’t imagined any people up until now, but at some point she’s sure after all that Ponnie must be a figment of her imagination. Though... Where does the backpack come from she suddenly has with her?  
Andre, Robbie, Beck and Benji visit her that evening (Beck saying something about being thrown out by Jade for some time with their son as she was planning her revenge on Cat). But they don’t take her seriously. They make it much worse, especially after Ponnie actually shows up and they don’t believe her at all.  
She’s glad to have decided in the end to get the police involved. Because Ponnie of course exists and was out to get her.  
As her father’s partner makes sure she’ll get home safely and have the rest of the day off (and she’s sure she’ll take tomorrow off as well and give herself a long weekend, because she can’t take all of this anymore), Cat suddenly shows up – with black streaks in her otherwise red hair. She seems to be totally devastated and explains that she somehow fell asleep during study hall and Jade got her there. Well... Tori thinks she could’ve gotten away much worse.  
Benji, who’s again carried by Beck, actually even seem to like it the way he smiles at Cat.


	17. The Blonde Squad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Sorry for being a little later with this chapter than with the last few.  
> Here, it's just the episode The Blonde Squad, where I changed some timeline slightly, as the showing of Beck's movie isn't on a Friday though Cat says in the episode that she hopes Tori has a bad weekend afterwards. She therefore doesn't say so this here. After the episode it's Cat's birthday.  
> Also, I want to "warn" that Benji isn't an average sleeping child. I'm pretty sure most almost 2-year-olds sleep much better than it's described here, but I also think I already established the fact that Benji is a bad sleeper. And as every child is different...  
> Well, well... Have fun reading!

Beck has written a short film named The Blonde Squad and has casted Jade, Cat and Tori in the main roles. They meet up some afternoons after school with a few other classmates (also including Andre and Robbie) to film it.  
While Beck starts setting up and getting everything in position, Jade always catches Benji first. Robbie meanwhile starts with Cat’s and Tori’s wigs and is done by the time Jade is back with her son.  
Benji therefore is of course around while they film and the first time he sees Jade in her blonde wig, he isn’t happy at all. While he has liked every costume of hers before this (as far as Tori knows) and always loves her accents and characters, he doesn’t like Jade blonde.  
“No,” he says, backing away from her as she wants to pick him up after just having gotten back into the theater, blonde for the first time.  
Jade furrows her brow. Apparently, he has never before denied her to pick him up. “What’s up with you?”  
“Not Mommy,” he promptly says and then turns and runs to Beck, who has just made sure everything is set up.  
Wow, okay. Jade looks ready to kill. Tori herself takes a step back and is unsure if she should say anything. Though Benji has obviously recognized Jade as his mother. Otherwise he wouldn’t have used the word ‘mommy’ at all. He has apparently just decided that she doesn’t look enough like his mother anymore and that he doesn’t like her this way.  
Beck hurries to pick Benji up and walks with him back to Jade, has of course heard him and has also realized what has happened. “Come on,” he gently tells his son. “It’s still your mommy.”  
“No!” Benji says decisively.  
Jade crosses her arms in front of her chest, looking angry. Tori is sure though that she just shows anger to cover that her son actually hurts her saying that.  
“Am I that ugly?” she finally spits out.  
“Yes,” Benji says and Beck quickly cuts in, as if worried: “You know you’re always beautiful, Jade.”  
He shortly pecks her lips with his, with her not returning it, then he addresses Benji again: “Don’t be so mean to your mommy. You know it’s her. And if you say things like that, it will make her sad.”  
Benji draws his eyebrows together, tilts his head as he looks to Jade again. He seems to seriously consider that and... well, Jade is his mother and he has to see in the end, that he has hurt her. And he actually, suddenly, says: “Sorry, Mommy.”  
“Are you willing to come into my arms then, despite the hair?” she asks and as he nods, Beck hands him over with a smile.  
Promptly, Jade says: “Always remember that it’s your daddy’s fault that I look like this.”  
“It is,” Beck confirms, his smile growing wider, and he kisses Jade’s cheek, though that’s obviously not enough for Jade right now as she promptly pulls him into a full kiss.  
And they are starting to make out again, even with Benji right there in Jade’s arms. Well.  
It’s Cat, who interrupts, happily, addressing Benji: “What do you think of me with blonde hair?”  
Beck and Jade break apart and Beck actually turns back to the set to make sure, everything is done and they can finally start filming, while Benji looks at Cat and shrugs.  
Of course, Tori has to ask him too, though Benji has seen her and Cat already with their hair, were both of them ready when Jade came back with him, but anyway: “What about me, Benji? Do you like my hair this way?”  
Benji also looks at her and tilts his head. He doesn’t say anything though or gives any more of a reaction.  
Jade smirks. That definitely makes her happy again. “He doesn’t care about you two at all.”  
That makes Cat pout but Jade has already turned away with Benji again and hands the little boy back over to Beck, who of course has to keep him while they film. He also decides at that moment that they can finally get started.

The next day, Cat chirps up at lunch: “Oh, do you have all time the Saturday after next?”  
“Sure,” Robbie immediately answers, while Tori still thinks about what she will have to do. Well... They planned on filming some more of the movie for Beck during this weekend and get done with it, so he’ll be able to show it during next week. But Tori has the next weekend free, as far as she can remember.  
So, she also says: “Yes. What for?”  
As the others have also nodded, Cat claps her hands happily and says: “For my birthday party. We’re gonna have a sleepover.” Tori can’t believe how fast the time runs by. Cat’s birthday actually is comming up next week.  
“A sleepover?” Andre asks interested.  
That does sound like fun for Tori. They never yet had a sleepover. Tori had a lof of those back with her friends at Sherwood and before that. Now, she once had a sleepover with Cat, but that has been it. One with all of them? They also are old enough that none of their parents can say anything about both sexes sleeping in one room without supervision.  
“Yes,” Cat says happily. “My parents won’t be home with my brother, but they already said it’s okay. We can sleep in the living room. You would have to bring sleeping bags or something.” She looks further to Beck and Jade and adds: “Benji is also invited.”  
Jade has looked sceptical before, but now she raises her eyebrows high. “You do realize that Benji still barely sleeps a night through, right?”  
Tori has already heard that Benji finally sleeps every few nights through. Maybe, they will be lucky. Though even if they won’t be... Tori just lived through some tough weeks. It probably won’t annoy her too much to be woken up once or twice that one night by Benji. Especially, as he’s still just the cutest and they all do love spending time with him.  
Cat also shakes her head: “That doesn’t matter.”  
And Andre agrees: “Well, it’s only one night for us. How bad can it be?”  
“I should just stay home with him,” Jade says though and probably, she just doesn’t want to do the sleepover and tries to use Benji as an excuse.  
Beck also smiles: “I think he will do fine. Even if he wakes up at night, it isn’t too often anymore.”  
Jade glares at him and Beck shrugs, while Cat claps her hands again: “It will be so great.”

That afternoon, they film again, the next one as well. They don’t get much done that third day though, as Larry flies away and Andre isn’t able to get him back into the cage. Beck decides to end it for the day, as the scenes with the bird are the only ones left for today. He instead wants to get started to cut everything already shot.  
Jade takes Benji out of his arms again. “I’ll go home with him then.”  
But the day is still young, as they have planned to film longer and Tori has time and knows Jade and Cat also have time and they don’t really often get to spend time among themselves, just the girls. Well, and with Benji.  
Therefore, she now asks Jade and Cat: “Why don’t we go to Nozu and grab some sushi?”  
“Yay!” Cat immediately says.  
Jade looks at Tori for a moment, then she decides: “I don’t want to, but I will.”  
Okay, sure. Because she can’t even just say yes to something like this.  
“Oh, remember, we’ll have to let Robbie take our wigs off,” Cat now says, but Tori gets the idea to just keep the wigs on.  
She has never been blonde and very likely will never be. But to pretend to be blonde for some time, does every guy like blondes... It sounds like fun. Especially when all of them do it.  
Jade of course dryly notices that her son obviously doesn’t like blondes, though he just doesn’t like her as a blonde and is long over that anyway. As soon as Cat gets into some weird monologue about lemonade and first aid, Jade is quick to agree to just go to Nozu’s with the blonde hair.  
She kisses Beck good-bye and also gives him a chance to say good-bye to Benji, then they leave.

Tori thinks it’s amazing fun to go into public as a blonde. She’s sure every boy’s head turns as they walk into the sushi place and when they sit, she happily says: “This is so cool! We’re blondes. Whoo! We’re like pincesses.”  
“Can you be the princess that gets poisoned?” Jade asks flatly, which makes Benji actually giggle. Gosh. Tori wonderes if anyone will ever dare to make a mean comment at him, as he will probably have all the comebacks in the world ready, having heard everything mean there is in the world from his mother, directed to everyone around her.  
After Cat’s question, Tori explains again why she is so excited to be blonde; because if every guy goes for blonde girls, it also means, blonde girls get special treatment.  
And they do get free water only shortly after that, which Tori considers proof of her theory, while Jade and Cat still don’t seem excited at all. Cat instead leaves for the restroom, but apparently doesn’t get far.  
Tori doesn’t even watch her any further, drinks her water and looks at Benji instead, who looks around curiosly. And she just wants to talk to the boy, when Jade bumps her arm and says: “Hey. Cat just sat down with some guy.”  
Sure enough, she did. That guy obviously has also been attracted to her and has noticed her because of her blonde hair. Well, and only a second later a boy also approaches her and Jade.  
He pretends to want to burrow soy sauce from them – or actually doesn’t pretend.  
Tori feels a little embarrassed and Jade doesn’t help her with that. She even makes fun of her a little after that, but luckily gets interrupted by their food arriving.  
“Cat,” Jade promptly yells over to their friend and Benji repeats gleefully: “Cat!”  
Cat immediately jumps up and runs over to them. “N’aw,” she makes, as soon as she arrives, grabbing Benji’s face with both her hands. “Thank you for calling me, Benji.”  
Well... He hasn’t really called her, Tori assumes. He just has repeated after his mother because he thinks, everything she says and does is funny and he should do the same. But she understands Cat’s happiness nonethless. It is always great to have him say your name.  
Jade pushes Cat’s hands away annoyed, obviously doesn’t like Benji to be touched like that, though the boy seems happy at Cat’s happiness.  
Cat doesn’t pout because of Jade pushing her slightly away, instead she keeps going, still talking to Benji: “I totally wannt to stay with you, but I just promised Evan to eat with him.”  
“Evan?” Tori has to ask and would like to know more about the boy sitting at the other table, watching them, waiting for Cat to come back.  
But Cat just giggles: “Yeah. Benji can come with me though.”  
She offers to take Benji in her arms, but before Benji could decide in any way to get into her arms, Jade pulls him onto her other leg, further away from Cat, as she says: “No. Go alone to your new boy toy.”  
She even leans over Tori to get Cat’s food from there and hand it over to the other girl.  
Cat giggles again at Jade’s choice of words, takes her food and leaves them with that.  
So, that’s it for their dinner among them three girls. But well... Of course, Cat should keep talking to that boy, if she likes him. And Tori and Jade also have a good time on their own (or rather with Benji). They easily can spend a nice time together by now.  
They do. They talk all through dinner, Benji totally involved as well, but also doesn’t eat for too long, because of Benji and Jade wanting to go home at some point.  
They wave Cat good-bye as they leave, but Cat doesn’t even notice.

In school next day, Cat hugs everyone when Tori finally sees her. She tells her that she and Evan hit it off and she even invited him to her birthday sleepover, which Tori considers really weird as they don’t know that guy at all, but... well... it’s Cat’s birthday party and therefore Cat’s decision.  
The only thing is that Evan doesn’t even know that Cat doesn’t look the way she looked yesterday. She hasn’t told him she has worn a wig. Oh, Cat.  
As Jade promptly finds out that Evan only goes for blondes, Cat doesn’t dare to tell him at all. She has agreed to meet with him next week though, watching Beck’s movie together.

They film some more during the weekend, with Larry still not obeying to Andre begging him to come back to him. They were able to film around the bird in that one scene and to cut it in a way that makes it appear as if Larry has been there the whole time, even in the end.  
Now, it’s time to watch the movie. Some girls cheer overexcited as Beck introduces it and Tori is glad that Jade isn’t back yet. She definitely wouldn’t have liked that. But Jade has directly left after school to get Benji again. Beck has explained after Tori questioning that he feels comfortable having Benji around for the showing. It isn’t about a grade anyway, it’s not live and Benji gets older and it gets more and more unlikely apparently that he just starts crying like that. And even if he does, Jade can leave with him, Jade and Beck decided, though they otherwise do like to watch each other’s things – not to mention that Jade herself is actually in the movie and probably would like to watch it fully for that as well.  
She’s getting Benji now in any case and is back, only shortly after Beck’s introduction. She directly asks Tori if Cat and Evan are already there and they come in that very second. And Cat is wearing the blonde wig yet again. Why? Why hasn’t she just told him?  
Tori doesn’t like it at all. Not to mention that Cat will get busted sooner or later – rather sooner as Evan is invited to her birthday party and she won’t be able to sleep with the wig, will she be?  
And Cat is beautiful in any case and shouldn’t have to change anything about her for a boy. But for now, Tori can’t do anything about it. The movie begins anyway.  
In the end, Cat does show herself without her wig, because of Larry and because of Tori’s persuasion, but Evan is an idiot and leaves because he only goes for blondes. Some guys...  
Cat doesn’t even want to play with Benji after the movie is over, though Jade actually offers it to her, maybe a little roughly, but still.  
Tori of course also tries to comfort her, long after everyone else is gone, but Cat understandably doesn’t want to see Tori right now, so she finally leaves.

Luckily, Cat is not a person able to be sad for too long, especially with her birthday party fast approaching.  
That of course is still happening, now without Evan again. Which is better as they also have never known him and Cat herself had barely met him.  
Robbie is the first one at Cat’s with Tori arriving second. A while after her, Andre comes as well, and then finally Beck and Jade with Benji.  
They have a great evening together and are quick to put all their sleeping bags into the living room, making their beds there. Afterwards, they sit in the kitchen though, which is seperate in the Valentines’ home, and eat and talk there.  
They have ordered pizza and Benji also gets some of it, but he doesn’t seem all too hungry.  
“He’ll definitely be up at night to eat something more,” Jade says when Benji starts saying very decisive ‘no’s to every offer of more pizza. “Maybe, I should go home with him, so you can have a calm night.”  
It almost sounds like Jade being considerate, but she hasn’t wanted to sleep over from the start, so naturally she just tries to get away with this.  
Beck also knowingly puts his arm around Jade with a smile, but Cat seems oblivious and just says: “You don’t need to go home with him. We can all take care of him over night.”  
Jade rolls her eyes, as she lets Benji back down to walk around again.  
Beck meanwhile almost smirks: “Well, we all will wake up if he cries, but I bet only Jade will be able to comfort him tonight anyway.”  
He seems a little gleeful, even when Jade glares at him.  
“Why?” Robbie asks confused. Tori also doesn’t get it. Why should Jade be the only one able to comfort him? At least Beck should be too, should’t he be?  
“Because he’s in a phase where he likes Jade so much better than anyone else,” Beck answers easily.  
Tori glances to Benji, who has found his toys on the floor, where Cat has put them out of his bag, right when they have arrived. He’s in a phase where he likes Jade better than everyone, even Beck? Sure, he has cried just for Jade earlier when he has bumped his head on the table. And he has gone to her more often than he sometimes does.  
“In what way?” Tori therefore asks.  
Beck explains: “Every child around that age has phases, where they like on parent or whatever better. Benji is good about it like with everything. He doesn’t insist on one of us taking care of him if only the other one is there or our parents take care of him. But when we’re both there, he sometimes does insist on just the one and the other can’t comfort him at all. Which is fun when it’s the other one.”  
Jade dryly adds: “Yeah, because the other one has to get up more often at night then, even if we spend the night together. And it’s me way more often.”  
And Beck seems to be gleeful about that. As if he enjoys his son crying more for Jade than for him, because it means more work for Jade and less for him, which Tori can imagine as actually being funny in the situation, as long as noone is too stressed by it.  
Now, Beck looks to Jade with a smile, lovingly, pulling her closer, his arm long back around her: “Well... He’s a mama’s boy. I get it.”  
Jade rolls her eyes, but then she turns and pulls Beck into a soft kiss. Tori definitely understands that kiss.

Jade also is the one going to lie down Benji on her own, when the little boy grows tired. He doesn’t seem to be too happy to have to go to sleep, but Jade convinces him in the end to leave the room with her, while Beck keeps with the others and they keep talking.  
But soon enough, they hear crying from the other room and after a while, Jade comes back, with Benji still in her arms. He wears pajamas now and doesn’t cry anymore, but still has tears all over his face.  
“He’s obviously so not tired,” Jade explains dryly and... yeah, obviously, Benji is and has been for some time. But he has apparently decided it’s still too early to sleep.  
“N’aw, baby. You sure?” Beck asks, while he pulls out a tissue and wants to start drying Benji’s face with it, but Benji promptly turns his face further to Jade. Well... He surely doesn’t want Beck now.  
Jade takes the tissue out of Beck’s hand and starts drying Benji’s face herself, which he lets happen.  
“Well. We are still up anyway,” Cat says happily. “Maybe, we can still play something with him.”  
“I don’t think that’s smart,” Beck says though. “We shouldn’t put any action in now. He needs to sleep soon in any way.”  
Cat pouts, but Robbie successfully distracts her again by finally asking about which presents Cat got from her family for her birthday. She shows them all of them, brings them from her room down to the kitchen and spreads them on the table that’s otherwise filled with the rest of the pizza, snacks and drinks.  
It’s after they’ve looked at all of them, that Jade stands up again. Benji seems exhausted in her arms and Tori bets she will tuck him in next door now, but they are at the door, when Benji finally notices they have stood up and are about to leave the room alone and he promptly starts screaming.  
“Don’t, Benji. Come on. You need to go to bed,” Jade tells him, but doesn’t go any further, starts rocking him instead, where she stands.  
Has he really noticed that Jade just wanted to put him to bed now? Apparently, he has. He now also clearly states: “No!”  
“It’s late and you’re tired,” she says and he answers yet again: “No!”  
“Why can’t he just sleep here in your arms?” Cat asks, watching the little boy, now crying and wriggling in Jade’s arm, but holding on to her nonetheless, sadly.  
“He won’t,” Jade says darkly and Beck explains: “You know he long has to lie down to be able to actually sleep. And if he stays up much longer, he suddenly will get hyper and the night will be terrible.”  
“What can we do?” Robbie asks worried, obviously thinking more about Benji though than himself or the others, who will also suffer at a terrible night.  
Beck looks to his son himself, who calms down now as Jade doesn’t keep moving further away. “Well... He obviously doesn’t want to go to sleep while we are still up and awake. But you know what, Benji? We are all sleepy. And we also will go to bed now.”  
Benji looks back curiosly and if he doesn’t think that’s a bad suggestion, as if he would be okay with going to sleep then as well.  
“This early?” Andre asks sceptically though. Tori also thinks it’s way too early to go to sleep. She doesn’t feel tired at all.  
“If we could at least all lie down? You know...” Beck says, standing up, and... okay, they get it. They aren’t supposed to sleep yet but to pretend for Benji, so he will finally go to sleep.  
“Sure,” Cat says, clapping her hands happily, while Robbie gets right to it, stands up, stretches himself and yawns: “Yeah, we should go to bed.”  
They all move over to the other room and are in the process of lying down in their prepared sleeping bags and everything, when Benji asks though: “Jamas?”  
“Can we all put on our pajamas?” Beck asks the friends promptly and... well... why not?  
Cat even seems exetremly happy about that: “We can have a pajama party. That’s great!”  
The girls stay with Benji in the living room and change there, while the boys go into the kitchen. They actually bring back their drinks and some of the snacks. Tori guesses, Benji won’t be able to grasp yet that that means they will stay up for a while longer.  
Benji does babble something else, while they all lie back down, but Tori doesn’t understand it at all though she’s otherwise – like everyone in their group of friends – pretty good at understanding what he says.  
Tori also isn’t the only one to not understand, judging by Andre’s, Robbie’s and Cat’s expressions. Beck also notices and translates: “He says we have to brush our teeth.”  
“Honestly?” Andre asks.  
Jade glares at him, before she turns back to her son: “You’re right, Benji. We totally should.”  
Undoubtedly, it is a good thing that Benji considers it normal that the day ends with brushing your teeth and he also expects all of them to do it. Well... And why not do it?  
They all stand back up, while Beck asks the little boy: “Already wanna lie down while we do?”  
That’s worth a try, in hope he already falls alseep then. “No,” Benji says though.  
“Your mommy can lie down with you,” Beck suggests, but Benji shakes his head: “No.”  
“Nice try,” Jade says cheekily, which makes Beck smile, and they share a short kiss, before Jade turns to the others: “Then let’s hurry. He really has to go to sleep soon.”  
They do hurry. The Valentines have two bathrooms and they split up to brush their teeth, Cat staying with Beck, Jade and Benji, while Andre, Robbie and Tori brush their teeth in the other bathroom. It’s only when they are almost done, that Andre notices that they actually wouldn’t have had to brush their teeth as Benji doesn’t see them anyway.  
They meet back in the living room and all lie down again. Finally, Benji seems satisfied.  
Beck and Jade have set up next to each other, with Cat right in front of them and Benji probably can sleep everywhere in his bag, he now get put in.  
“See, Benji? We’re all sleeping,” Beck says. The light of course is still on, but Benji doesn’t complain about that.  
He lies next to Jade, not on Beck’s side, and now looks at his mother: “Mommy. Rainbow.”  
Tori doesn’t know what that means, but Jade obviously does: “I’ve already sang you a lullabye.”  
“Pease,” he says and... well... who can deny him anything with that cute version of ‘please’?  
Jade looks back at him and also doesn’t seem able to resist that ‘please’. She still doesn’t start singing. Tori guesses that singing a lullabye for her son is a too private thing for her to do it in front of everyone. She is a performer and a singer, yes, but this is something so different than singing otherwise in front of everyone.  
And Beck may also be able to sing or act in front of people, but it’s not like he suggests a duett now to make it easier for Jade, instead he asks Benji, sitting up to look at his son over Jade: “Would you like all of us to sing it?”  
Benji considers for a moment, tilting his head, then: “Yes.”  
Beck turns to everyone else again, rubbing Jade’s arm doing so: “Can we all sing Over The Rainbow?”  
Ah, okay. That’s the song, Benji wants to hear.  
Of course, they are all ready to do that, though Jade makes clear before they start: “Remember, it’s supposed to be a lullabye, so no extravagance.”  
Okay, that has been a fair warning. Naturally, they all like to do something special, to put in a high note here and there. And they probably shouldn’t right now.  
They all obey and sing a calm and sweet version of Over The Rainbow that makes not just Benji smile. At the end of it, the young boy yawns and says at the same time: “’gain.”  
“Sh,” Jade says to him, running her hand through his hair, before they sing the song another time, now a little more quiet. Then, Jade and Beck immediately go over to humming the song another time, with the others joining in. And they hum it yet another time, before Benji is most certainly asleep.  
“I think, we’re clear,” Beck finally says. “Now, we probably just shouldn’t scream or shout. And should stay here and act all sleepy when he wakes up in between.”  
“Do you have to do that often?” Robbie asks curiosly. “Pretending to go to sleep with him?”  
Beck shrugs. “We do it sometimes. It’s not too troublesome. It was bad when we started when he was still under a year old and woke up much more every night, so we were much more exhausted. Back then, it happened that we actually fell asleep while we pretended to be. Not that we otherwise stay up too long if he keeps us up at night – or like we were up any longer than him when he was still really little. But yeah... On those days, when we fell right asleep with him, we hadn’t had one conversation with each other without him involved in some way.”  
Those days must have been on the weekends or during breaks, as they already had school breaks with each other for conversations without Benji more than a year ago. Which isn’t much, but at least something.  
But Tori can imagine those days on the weekend or over break as annoying. It must be bad enough to only have school breaks or the time Benji is asleep to a day-to-day basis, as you can’t really talk about serious topics or something. And then having days where you don’t exchange one word with each other without the little boy involved? Tori definitely can imagine that as exhausting  
“Well, it’s good that he’s growing up, huh?” Andre asks and Cat smiles brightly: “Soon, we’ll celebrating his 18th birthday.”  
Beck looks amused. “Luckily, it’s still some time until that’ll happen.”  
“Yeah, let’s get his second birthday behind us first,” Jade dryly adds.  
“I can’t believe he’ll already be two years old soon,” Robbie says and Tori nods: “It’s crazy. I don’t even know him for a year, but he grows up so fast.”  
“It’s crazy how damn nostalgic all of you always get when we talk about Benji’s age,” Jade says with an eyeroll though. “Now get my glas and some snacks over here.”  
Beck smiles and puts a kiss on Jade’s cheek, while Andre, who is set up closes to where they put down drinks and snacks at first, promptly hands out everything, and they get onto other topics again.

Benji only seems to wake up two times, but barely makes a noise, rolls over and falls back asleep, while they all fall silent and quickly lie back down from their sitting positions, pretending to also be asleep.  
They talk until midnight, before they turn off the light and quickly all fall asleep. They get woken up by a cry though, not even an hour later.  
Tori sits up and sees Robbie and Andre sitting up as well, seemingly confused at the sudden loud noise.  
Jade just gives a noise herself and turns around to look into Benji’s direction. Beck meanwhile sits up like his friends and runs his hand through his hair, before he seems in the process of getting over to Benji.  
Cat seems the only one truly awake, as she also sits up and decides: “Let me take care of him.”  
“Knock yourself out,” Jade grumbles and Cat promptly robs over to Benji, who still cries as she takes him into her arms.  
“What’s wrong, Benji?” she asks softly and Beck sighs slightly, before he also gets over to them and takes Benji out of her arms, saying: “I think he needs to be changed. Let me quickly do it.”  
“Mommy!” Benji now screams out but Jade murmurs, still not even sitting up: “Your daddy’s gonna change you.”  
“Come here, baby,” Beck also says and leaves with him and his bag.  
They quickly don’t hear his cries anymore. Andre is the first to let himself fall down again, with Robbie and Tori joining. Tori is also so damn tired. And it takes so long for Beck to come back that Robbie definitely is back asleep when he does.  
Tori also barely notices him coming in again. He also doesn’t turn on the light and Benji isn’t crying anymore. Benji does shortly say something, Tori can’t understand, but which makes her open her eyes again. She sees how Jade opens her arms and Beck puts Benji in it, before he lies back down next to her. They even share a kiss, before Jade turns on her side again, pressing Benji close.

Tori doesn’t feel like she has fallen asleep again at all, though she definitely has, when Benji cries again. Andre groans, while Beck already informs: “Now, he’s hungry.”  
He pulls the bag over again and gets something out in the dark.  
“Let me feed him,” Cat asks again, while Tori, who has instantly sat up when she has been startled awake, lies back down. Robbie and Andre haven’t even bothered to sit up, just like Jade.  
Cat now pulls Benji to her and Beck hands her a banana, as far as Tori can see in the dark. “Try this.”  
Cat does and Benji accepts it and stops crying as he gets fed by Cat. Well, apparently he does accept other people than Jade to comfort him tonight in a way. Though Tori can imagine it having been different last night by how unwilling Jade is to even sit up and how Beck seems totally fine with that. They usually have to share the care more evenly, when they both are there at night, don’t they?  
Tori is almost asleep again, while Benji still eats, when Cat suddenly squeals: “You’re so cute!”  
Tori’s eyes shoot open again, but Benji doesn’t do anything special except eating right now. Of course, he’s also cute doing that – he is a toddler and everything except him crying or screaming is pretty cute -, but... well...  
“Can you stop being so loud and awake whenever he wakes up?” Jade snaps, but only in a whisper. “He will believe it’s morning.”  
“Sorry,” Cat whispers back guiltily and Andre is quick to add: “No, we’re still all sleepy, Benji. Sht.”  
Tori almost snorts. Andre is already totally done with this night apparently. Well... Beck and Jade have warned them, especially Jade. Though if Tori has to be honest... She would’ve expected Benji to wake up more often in the way he did while they were still awake – without too much noises and without waking any of them up all that much except his parents, who are trained to hear every little sound of him (like his breathing being off or alike).  
Tori closes her eyes again and actually is back asleep herself, before Benji even lies down again.

Soon enough, she gets woken up yet again though. Benji starts crying another time.  
“What is it now?” Andre immediately asks unnerved.  
“He is fed and changed,” Robbie also says. “What else does he need?”  
This time, it isn’t Beck who answers. It’s Jade, now standing up. Benji has apparently fallen asleep next to Cat earlier, but already stretches his arms to Jade, standing up himself, crying and screaming.  
Jade picks him up, as she says: “He had a bad dream. It’ll be fine.”  
She starts walking with him around the room, rocking him and soon calming him down. Beck is the one, who this time just turned around, and may already be back asleep, as soon as Benji stops crying.  
Jade keeps rocking Benji for some more time, even after he has stopped crying, and Tori again falls back asleep, before Benji does.

The next time, Tori wakes up, it isn’t dark anymore. She feels a small finger poke her arm, before she hears Jade’s voice surprisingly soft, a little further away: “Everyone is still asleep, baby. It’s too early.”  
Tori sleepily opens her eyes and sees little Benji standing right in front of her face, but turning around now, while Beck asks: “Why don’t you come back to cuddle some more?”  
Benji sighs. “Okay.”  
And he walks over to his parents, who still lie on the floor and don’t notice Tori being awake while they watch their son. They lie much closer now than during the night and actually both use their sleeping bags as blankets, they now share. They both raise them and let Benji easily slide between them.  
“Love you,” Benji then says, as he cuddles between the two of them and they both move a little closer, in a wonderfully warm looking embrace.  
“N’aw,” Jade makes, which Tori can understand so well. Benji just saying those words on his own? Incredible.  
Though she has never Jade give a noise like that. And now, she softly says: “We love you, too, Benji.”  
She drops a kiss on the boy’s hair, before she actually looks up to Beck and says, more quiet: “And I love you.”  
“I love you, too,” Beck answers earnestly and they share a kiss over their son’s head.  
Tori smiles as she closes her eyes again. Her heart aches a little. It’s incredible how much these two love each other, how all three of them do. The young little family.

Tori falls asleep another time and the next time, she wakes up, everyone else does as well. They slowly all turn around more and more, then open their eyes and start sitting up. Andre looks like a mess. He definitely didn’t get enough sleep. Well... Tori also still feels exhausted. It’s not like they haven’t slept enough hours. But with those three very loud interruptions... well...  
The thing is... Jade and Benji aren’t there, when they finally sit up and look around.  
Cat asks worriedly: “Where are they?”  
Beck explains: “Benji needed to be changed again. Jade directly will wash and dress him.”  
Robbie yawns and Andre says: “Well, that was a night...”  
Beck smiles: “That bad?”  
“Sure. That was exhausting,” Andre says and Tori can’t help but nod.  
“It can certainly go better. We had a few nights by now, where he didn’t wake us once. But all in all, this wasn’t a bad night per se. Especially as he always calmed down quickly. With that bad dream... That could’ve taken an hour until he would’ve completely stopped crying.”  
Gosh, Tori doesn’t even want to imagine. If that’s how children are, not just Benji, she isn’t too sure about having a child one day anymore. And Beck and Jade have even already talked about having a second one – if she has understood right, when she felt totally deranged because of lack of sleep.  
Jade comes back in with Benji, dressed and actually also wearing his pacifier again that he doesn’t use all that often lately anymore. He sits in her arms, hugging her close, as Jade walks in.  
“Aw, Benji, so cute,” Cat says before anyone can tell Jade or Benji a morning greeting (though Jade also doesn’t look like a morning person and like she would appreciate happy morning greetings). “Do you wanna come to me?”  
Cat stretches out her arms, but Benji only glances at her with furrowed eyebrows, before he promptly burries his face in Jade’s breast. He obviously doesn’t want to go to Cat right now, but wants to stay with his mother.  
Cat pouts as Jade sits down with Benji and Beck rubs her back while saying (as if to make sure Cat doesn’t feel disliked by Benji): “He sometimes needs a few minutes in the mornings. You should have seen him earlier. He was directly ready to play then, but we thought everyone should get some more time to sleep.”  
“Thank you,” Andre says and Tori has to laugh lightly.  
Robbie also smiles, before he asks: “Well... How about we make breakfast?”  
“Yes!” Cat says and jumps up, while Tori also nods: “I can eat.”  
Benji gets in the mood to play again, while they make themselves breakfast. Beck makes Benji “help” them set the table. After they have eaten, they all wash themselves and get dressed and then soon leave for their own homes.


	18. Wanko's Warehouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> There are scene in this chapter with a lot of people there at the same time, which means I don't write everyone's reactions all the time. Especially the Wests fall through, but I also imagine that Jade's father doesn't say or react too much while her stepmother also keeps relatively quiet with so many people around that know each other so much better than she knows them.  
> Okay... Yeah. After this, it's just three chapters to go. Yes, actually three chapters, not two though I always had about 20 chapters in mind. It will be 21 with the next one being about two episodes, the one after that about five (!) and the last one about two again. Yeah, as we're already in season 4 with this chapter, it'll go quick now.  
> I wish you much fun reading this!

In the week after Cat’s birthday, talking about that sleepover again at lunch, Beck finally says: “Talking about birthdays... As you know, Benji’s is coming up.”  
Cat is even more excited about that than she ever has been about her own birthday.  
Beck continues: “We decided on a nice dinner for a party this year.”  
“Next year, we probably have to start inviting kids his age,” Jade says and seems annoyed at the bare thought.  
“Does he even know kids his age?” Tori asks curiously. Of course, he can still get to know hundreds of other kids until next year, but Tori wonders if he also could theoretically have a children’s party this year.  
“From the playground,” Jade answers. “They’re all brats.”  
Well, that’s how Jade just talks about other children that are not hers. But yeah, Tori does know that Beck and Jade go to the playground with Benji, each on their own and together. It’s only just now that she imagines Benji playing on his own with some other children, while Jade sits on a bench next to the playground. And... Parents naturally talk, when they sit there, don’t they? Does Jade as well? Does she actually have that typical parent talk with other parents? Tori would love to witness that.  
“Anyway,” Beck starts talking again. “You are of course invited as his godparents – and we also agreed on inviting you because you are our friend as much as they are.”  
He has implied Andre, Robbie and Cat at first and now definitely talks to Tori.  
Jade dryly adds, also directed at Tori, picking at her food: “Or because it means more presents for our son. You choose.”  
Tori decides to ignore that but she does says surprised: “I didn’t know they are his godparents.” Nobody has ever said anything about that.  
Jade rolls her eyes. “Because we have a million of other friends we were able to choose from.”  
“You didn’t make me his godparent,” Rex notices and Robbie nodds. Apparently, they have made it very clear back then that they only made Robbie his godparent, not Rex as well.  
“Guess why,” Jade darkly says, glaring at Rex.  
Beck also calmly looks to Rex as he says: “We also don’t really invite you to this party. There’s just not enough room.”  
“Ouch,” Andre makes and Robbie makes Rex open his mouth, but not letting him say anything, probably a try to make him look offended.  
They don’t say anything more about it though, as Cat now asks Jade and Beck happily: “Will you have the dinner on his birthday directly?”  
Beck answers: “Yes. Our parents and Jasper will also be there. We’ll do it at my parents’ house because there’s enough room.”  
Tori imagines that it will be quite weird to eat dinner with both their parents because you just act differently among your group of friends than in front of someone’s parents. But she can understand that they want this. It is supposed to be a dinner for Benji and all of them probably are the people closest to the little boy.  
“Can we decorate everything with balloons and confetti and stuff?” Cat asks excited and Tori also imagines that as great fun. She has never yet decorated for a child, but it must be fun.  
Jade actually closes her eyes out of annoyance, but Beck shrugs: “Sure. And we wanted to talk about presents.” He pulls out his phone. “You still don’t have to give him anything, but because we thought you want to... You could give him this together.”  
He holds up his phone and they all lean in to see what he shows. It is a balance bike in an online shop.  
“I’ll send you the link, so you’ll also get the right brand and everything,” Beck says, as he puts his phone back into his pocket. “If it’s too expensieve, tell us. Then, we’ll ask our grandparents to give him that. But you would be his heores if you would give it to him.”  
“I think we can afford that, huh?” Andre says and Tori definitely also thinks to, from what she has just seen on that website. They are four people paying after all. Robbie and Cat also agree and Jade says: “And if you actually want to pay more for a gift, give us the rest in cash to save for Benji. He doesn’t need more clothes, toys or sweets at the moment than he’ll already get.”  
They all nod as a sign that they will obey to that, then Robbie asks: “That bike in yellow?”  
“If you give me black paint with it,” Jade promptly says.  
Beck puts his arm around her and smiles: “Well, of course in yellow.”  
Especially lately, Benji definitely got more and more into the color yellow. Tori thinks that’s weird and has to tell Jade: “It’s crazy that that’s your son’s favorite color.”  
Jade shrugs and turns to Beck: “I think we let him spend too much time with Cat.”  
That makes Beck, Andre, Robbie and Tori laugh lightly and Cat say smiling: “I like having an influence on Benji.”

Other things come up before Benji’s birthday.  
Firstable, the acceptance letters from college come in. Robbie is the only one leaving the city, going to San Francisco, which they are all excited about and promise to visit him there. Everyone else will stay in Los Angeles for now and attend different colleges there. Tori also enrolls in one, though she hopes her music career will take off fast – and then she already knows she would drop out of college and maybe go back sometime later.  
They are thinking about celebrating together, when Trina tells Tori about a big sale at Wanko’s Warehouse and she’s so excited about it that she can’t really hide it in front of her friends and they eventually get it out of her. Now, all of them want to go to and... why not? It sounds like fun going together.  
They agree on driving there together. They need two cars to all get there, especially because Beck and Jade decide to bring Benji.  
Andre and Beck each drive a car there, but as they met up before, they do all arrive at the same time. And promptly see there’s a long line in front of the store already though it’s still fifteen minutes to go to the sale.  
Tori sees Sinjin and Burf far in the front of the line though and she decides to ask them if they could join them. They all don’t want to wait in line too long.  
The thing is... Sinjin and Burf tell her that the sale doesn’t start at 7pm but at 7am, tomorrow morning. Gosh. Tori can’t believe it.  
She walks back to her friends, who just like her don’t want to drive back now to come back tomorrow – only to wait in an even longer line then.  
Jade apparently has an idea though. She leaves their group for the store with Benji in her arms and tells them to follow her.  
They do, but Tori aboslutely doesn’t get what they are doing, and when Jade comes to a halt somewhere inside the store, she finally has to ask her what the plan is.  
Well, Jade wants to just stay inside the store the whole night. The idea sounds totally crazy at first, but within seconds they all do warm up to it. Noone ever has to know. And Tori even can imagine it as an amazingly fun night, having the whole store to themselves.  
It takes a while, until the store is finally about to close up. Beck has, after getting Benji’s bag out of his car, already mentioned that it’s good that Benji took a too long nap again today, so he very likely won’t get whiny or even hyper before the store is closed and they can make up a bed for him just in time. Tori still thinks it’s very likely that Benji might get them busted. He needs to be silent after all, until the employees have checked if the store is empty. He can’t make a sound at all.  
Jade tries to sell it to him as she chooses a bin to disappear in with him. “We’re gonna play hide and seek, okay? You’re gonna hide with me in here and we can’t say a word.”  
She even got the pacifier out of the bag, though they barely use that anymore. Now, Benji takes it and Beck makes sure, Jade and Benji get in safely and are covered afterwards.  
It actually works. All of it. Benji keeps silent, just like the rest of them, and finally, they hear the security guard say that their aisle is clear and then leave. They are good to go.  
All of them get out with Beck pretending he has successfully found Jade and Benji, taking Benji out of her arms, though the young boy also must have noticed him watching them get into the bin earlier. But well...  
The thing is... It works but at the same time it doesn’t. The security system turns on and suddenly, there are laser beams in front of every aisle. They aren’t able to leave their aisle anymore, are only around the bins in a small space, all together. Great.  
Beck is even angry at Jade for a moment, but Jade quickly claims it’s Tori’s fault and everyone actually seems to believe it is. This wasn’t Tori’s idea though!  
But (after Cat distracted them by almost licking the lasers and calling the police with that) she does tell everyone that it can still work. It won’t be as enjoyable as thought at first, but they do have fun together and can easily spend a night together in a small space as proven just at Cat’s birthday party.  
Everyone agrees and they sit down and Tori guesses the biggest worry they’ll have to have is that neither Cat nor Benji can run into the lasers.  
But Beck and Jade now set up a bed for Benji anyway. Beck gets the idea to take one of the big bins. Benji seems to enjoy them in any case. They get Benji’s blanket out of the bag and his plush-giraffe and make everything comfy, when Tori suddenly thinks of something else they have to take care off: “We should call our parents.”  
Her and Trina’s parents will definitely worry if they don’t know where they are. Which doesn’t mean that Tori think she should tell them they are spending their night at Wanko. So, she asks Cat: “Can we say we’re sleeping over at your place?”  
She indicates Trina and herself. Trina is friends with Cat as well after all, so maybe their parents will buy it.  
Cat nods: “Sure. And I’ll tell my parents that I’m at yours?”  
Tori agrees and while Andre and Robbie apparently make the same deal, Tori and Trina move far to the side to call their parents without the others too loud in the background, calling their parents themselves.  
They reach their mother, who says it’s fine that they spontenously decided that. They also are old enough to do so.  
Cat and Robbie are still talking to their parents (Tori hears Cat giggling and wonders if her parents will buy it or if she will get them busted; though their parents must be used to her being weird) when Tori sits back down in the middle, while Andre has apparently been much faster with his call than Tori and Trina have been.  
“You are not calling anyone?” Tori asks Jade and Beck though.  
They are sitting next to the big bin, have apparently kissed Benji good night by now, who now lies in the bin, not asleep yet though, Jade’s hand in his.  
Beck smiles at Tori: “Well, the beauty of having a serious relationship and a child. Her mother will assume she is with me and my parents will assume I’m with her. If they even notice nobody is in the RV.”  
That of course makes sense.

Benji doesn’t need a song this time to fall asleep. Cat suggests to make up a story for him, all of them together, but Jade makes clear that they won’t do that or that she would make every character die cruelly at her turn.  
Benji does ask for his pajamas innocently, but Beck tells him he just will hold a nap and not really go to sleep, which seems to be fine with Benji. Not that long after, with all of them keeping silent, he’s asleep.  
And while they all sit there in silence, Tori gets an idea. The lowest laser beam isn’t so close to the floor that none of them could get through there, lying flat on the floor. And if one of them could get out, they could turn off the lasers, so they have more room.  
The others agree and they push Robbie out, who’s decidedly the flattest of all of them. They decide to stay in contact over walkie talkie, but Robbie takes forever and doesn’t answer anymore at one point. Tori doesn’t know if they should get worried, if maybe the security guards already came back and caught Robbie or if all the excitement has gotten him a seizure or something alike, which would be terrible.  
Jade of course meanwhile just shows annoyance and says that she needs to get out now: “I’m tired, we are all getting hungry, Trina needs to pee...”  
“Not anymore,” Trina says and of course that’s disguting. Even Jade looks disgusted though she is the one who has suggested for her to just pee in one of the bins. And of course that also makes sense. They can’t all hold out until the store opens again. If you need to go, you need to go.  
Andre apparently thinks about something else though and now asks Jade and Beck: “Don’t you have snacks for Benji with you again?”  
They probably have. They always have something to eat for him in his bag.  
“So?” Jade asks, narrowing her eyes at Andre.  
Andre shrugs. “Why don’t we all eat some of those?”  
Tori barely notices Beck shaking his head to that, because Jade’s look immediately darkens and she doesn’t just glare at Andre but at Tori, Trina and Cat too as she says: “If any of you eats something of his and he wakes up hungry, I swear I’ll cut of your fingers and feed them to him.”  
And out of nowhere, she pulls scissors like she does, and holds them out threatingly.  
“Oh, god,” Andre says, looking at her in horror, while Cat squeals as well. Tori is sure, Robbie would have peed himself right there right then. She herself almost does, as she has somehow no trouble believing Jade there.  
Beck looks at Jade thoughtfully though and suddenly says: “That’s an interesting plot for a horror movie. We don’t have any paper with us, do we?”  
“We don’t,” Jade answers calmly, putting the scissors back, and Beck pulls out his phone and starts typing on that instead. He definitely seems like he’s more than inspired and tries to take a few notes for the new idea as fast as he can.

Jade at least also doesn’t eat some of Benji’s snacks herself though she gets hungrier by the minute. She does get angry because of her hunger. Actually in a way that makes Tori soon wish she would eat some of Benji’s food after all, even if she wouldn’t share with everyone else.  
And finally, Jade says pointedly: “Somebody just get me a sandwich!”  
Tori’s sure she would’ve screamed it out if her son wasn’t sleeping so close. They all take care to not get too loud.  
Cat now says: “Kay, kay.” She jumps up, from where she sat, and, before anyone can stop her, runs straight through the lasers.  
The alarm goes off and Benji does right after.  
It’s a mess and the only thing Tori can think of while Jade draws Benji up her arms, is that they have to get out, before the police comes. She doesn’t know how she would ever be able to explain this to her parents, especially to her father.  
She gets an idea. They just have to cover their heads with bins and then can get past the security cameras and have to run as fast as they can. She tells the others and they immediately agree.  
Beck stuffs Benji’s blanket and giraffe back into his bag, while everyone else already tries to find a bin.  
Benji is still crying as Jade presses him close to her with on arm and uses the other hand to cover both of them with a bin but still being able to see the floor.  
They find Robbie with two strangers at the control panel for the alarm system and get him too, before they flee to the cars.  
They drive for a while before they stop together at the side of the road, to finally catch their breaths and calm down. Benji just starts calming down, has obviously riden on Jade’s lap so far, not on his baby seat.  
Robbie tells them all about the two robbers and they can’t believe all of that happened. They talk for a while, before Cat softly says: “We should go to the police.”  
They all know that’s true. So, they do drive to the next station though Tori dreads the thought and she knows everyone else does, too.  
But they tell the police everything and one of them of course knows Tori’s father and recognizes her and Trina and calls their father, though they are all at least 18 and none of their parents needed to know. Tori’s father is there only shortly after and tells Tori’s friends that they will call their parents and tell them or he will.  
Benji is whiny by now, obviously needs to go to bed, and Tori wants even less to be in Beck’s or Jade’s shoes than her own when Beck’s parents and Jade’s mother show up.  
But none of their parents say much. Tori’s father explains the situation, before Jade’s mother already tells her that they should get home, pointedly adding: “Your child should long be safely in bed.” That makes Beck and Jade share a guilty look.  
They don’t get any further punishment by the police, though Robbie does have to come back to identify the two robbers (the police have cought, before their group even showed up at the station) without doubt. Tori’s father makes sure Tori and Trina know that’s only the case because they have returned the bins and have turned themselves in, and not because it was a small thing they did.

On Monday, Tori finds out that not only she got grounded for a while, but Cat, Robbie and Andre as well. Beck and Jade didn’t (while Trina also did, despite her age and already being out of school), but Beck claims: “That’s only because of Benji. We are supposed to also go out with him and everything. They gave each of us a guilt trip though and did threaten that they wouldn’t enable us to move out and together after graduation and stuff if we do anything stupid again at all. And they won’t take him for a while except when we’re in school, so that we can’t go out alone.”  
That makes sense. Benji’s birthday party naturally also is still happening, as it hasn’t been Benji’s fault anyway. And Tori still is allowed to go there after she argued some time with her parents. But they decided that it would be okay, as they did turn themselves in and otherwise it would be punishment for the little boy (though Tori assumes Benji wouldn’t know at that age either way).  
The others managed to convince their parents as well that Benji’s party is a different story (Jade’s and Beck’s parents also will be there), so at least, they still have that.

 

Tori and Cat go to Beck’s early on Benji’s birthday and bring balloons (they still have to blow up), confetti and streamers to decorate the Olivers’ living room. Meanwhile, Robbie and Andre are supposed to catch the bike, which they have preordered and reserved in a shop to make sure they will have it today – and which noone was able to get the day before or earlier as they all were grounded.  
Beck lets them inside and it’s the first time, Tori is actually inside the house, not just the RV. It looks great and comfortable and Tori can’t understand at all why Beck chose the RV above this house.  
In Beck’s parents home, kitchen and living room are kind of seperate rooms but connected nonetheless, don’t have a door between them. Both rooms are big, but the living room is slightly bigger and they’ve already put the kitchen table over there and another one as well and surrounded them by enough chairs for everyone.  
Beck’s parents both are in the kitchen now, cooking, with Jade and Beck helping them.  
“Where’s Benji?” Cat asks, after she and Tori dropped all their stuff in the living room and have gone through to the kitchen and shared greetings with everyone.  
“Jade brought him back to Caitlyn, so we can set everything up in piece,” Mrs. Oliver answers.  
“N’aw,” Cat makes. “But he was already here and opened some presents?”  
She’s obviously thinking about the children’s chalk board, they just saw standing in the living room, already drawn upon wildly. And the puzzles and games spread over the coffee table. Tori also imagines that that isn’t how the Olivers’ living room usually looks like as Benji is with Ms. Anderson in the mornings and then with his parents either in that same house or in the RV, not inside here.  
Beck answers: “Yes. He already opened Caitlyn’s and Jasper’s and a few of Jade’s and mine this morning and then right after school some here. We thought, it would be smart to spread the presents out over the day. Though luckily, he will get those from the rest of the family over the next few weeks anyway and not today as well.”  
“He was hyper as it was earlier,” Jade dryly adds and Mr. Oliver smiles: “I love when presents are received like that.”  
“I’m excited to see how he’ll like our present!” Cat says and Tori also can’t wait. But Beck has promised they would be Benji’s heroes with the balance bike, so...  
“He will,” Beck now also says, before he decides: “Well, you can go inside the living room and decorate there. That’s where we’ll eat.”  
Mrs. Oliver turns to Beck and Jade: “You two can join them. I think we don’t need more hands here right now.”  
So, that’s why they do. Tori, Cat, Beck and Jade all move to the living room and start decorating. Jade blows up the balloons, sitting on the couch, because she claims she doesn’t want to have anything to do with the rest, while the other three spread confetti and streamers and then also the balloons.  
“We totally should have brought party hats,” Cat says after a while when everything already is more than colorful. “Maybe we can still make some.”  
“No,” Jade immediately says and Cat pouts, but doesn’t get to say anything more about it, as the door bell rings that same moment.  
“I’m getting it,” Beck says, loud enough, so his parents must have heard, then he leaves for the hallway of the home.  
They hear greetings and definitely also Benji’s voice, then Ms. Anderson walks in with a big cake on a plate in her hands, followed by Jasper with Benji in his arms, and finally Beck again.  
“Hello, everyone,” Ms. Anderson says as Jade stands up from the couch.  
“Hi,” Cat answers but then immediately turns to Benji: “Hey. Happy birthday, Benji!”  
“Happy birthday,” Tori is also quick to say, but Benji barely acknowledges them. Jasper sets him down and he walks in the direction of the balloons, while Beck offers Ms. Anderson to take the cake out of her hands.  
Ms. Anderson manages to say no, while she walks further through the living room, when Benji finally squeals though: “Balloons!”  
That’s apparently all he sees in the by now well decorated room. Cat picks one up and Benji kicks against all he can reach, with her telling him: “They are all for you. For your birthday!”  
“Do you like them, baby?” Beck asks Benji and the answer obviously is “yes”, which Benji promptly screams out.  
Jade runs her hand through his hair as he goes past her, still kicking the balloons happily, and dryly says: “Good. You can play with them now and Mommy’ll make them all pop later.”  
Benji instantly comes to a halt and turns to Jade, looking up to her defiantly: “No!”  
Jade looks back just as defiantly. “Yes!”  
“My balloons!” Benji says.  
For a moment, they just look at each other, as if they were in some battle of the minds, then Jade finally crosses her arms in front of her chest and says: “Fine. Then not.”  
And while that’s that for Benji and he gets back to his balloons, Jade actually looks like she’s pouting.  
Not just Tori notices that, Beck of course does, too, and seems to find it cute. “N’aw,” he says with a smile, walks over to her, hugs her and finally kisses her.  
She returns the kiss and only then also uncrosses her arms to hold Beck instead. When their lips break apart, she says: “Next time, we’ll make sure the kid knows from birth that nothing belongs to them, but all to me to cut up and destroy.”  
Beck chuckles. “Sure.” Tori also has to smile.  
Ms. Anderson interrupts them though: “I hope next time won’t be any time soon.”  
She has put the cake down on the living room table, has pulled off her jacket and has put it over one of the chairs, has also hung her purse over it, has shortly checked her phone and has just picked up the cake again to probably finally walk into the kitchen to greet Beck’s parents, but now has stopped again.  
“You never know,” Jade casually says and her mother shakes her head: “God, Jade, if you use this dinner to announce your next pregnancy, I will kill you.”  
And with that, she walks into the kitchen.  
Jade smirks and so does Beck actually, before they share another kiss, while they long hear Ms. Anderson, Mr. Oliver and Mrs. Oliver share greetings.  
Tori turns to Benji and starts playing with him, Cat, Jasper and the balloons.

It’s not that long after that the door bell rings again and Beck lets in Andre and Robbie with a big carton.  
Ms. Anderson, Mrs. Oliver and Mr. Oliver are still in the kitchen, while the others now gather around the carton in the living room.  
“This is a present from the four of us,” Robbie explains and Cat adds excitedly: “We hope you like it.”  
Benji walks around it curiously. “Box,” he finally says and hits upon it.  
“I think they give you what’s inside the box, baby” Beck says with a smile and is the one to open it and to pull the bike out.  
Andre pushes the carton away, so Beck can put the balance bike down again, and Benji already looks like he’s in a total state of glee.  
And the first word coming to him in strong emotions obviously is: “Mommy!”  
And he actually turns to her and hugs her tightly, which makes Jade smile. Though then she says, on which Tori wouldn’t have counted: “Thank those four, baby. They got it for you.”  
Benji does hug all of them then, first Cat, then Tori, then Robbie, then Andre. Tori has never been hugged like that and she definitely understands Jade’s smile. It’s the sweetest sort of hug, by a child, so joyfull.  
And then, he finally rides the bike, all through the living room with all of them watching happily. He must have ridden one before, because he knows instantly what to do with it. But he hasn’t had one of his own until now and they definitely made his day by giving this to him. Though Tori is sure he has been happy about his other presents as well.  
Suddenly, Mrs. Oliver is there, though. She brings in plates to set the table, sees Benji and immediately says: “He can’t do that in the house. I’m sorry.”  
“Just as an exception?” Beck asks and Tori smiles, because the way he asks, with the tone of voice, he sounds like the child that’s not allowed something.  
“No,” Mrs. Oliver decides with a shaking head, but nobody has the heart to stop Benji, who either hasn’t heard his grandmother or successfully ignores her, as he still rides through the living room and now even briefly through the kitchen entrance.  
“Can someone go outside with him until dinner?” Jade finally asks and Cat claps her hands happily, as she answers: “I’ll go!” And she calls out to the little boy: “Come on, Benji!”  
Benji does ride the balance bike next to her to the hallway to get to the front door, but Jade promptly looks at Tori, Robbie and Andre “You will go with her. And I swear, if anything happens to Benji, you will all die on your next birthdays.”  
Wow, okay. Naturally, they hurry to follow Cat and Benji to make sure Benji won’t just ride onto the street, where a car can hit him. Tori still hears Jade though from the front door, calling after them, almost as an afterthought: “And keep an eye on Cat, too.”

They do look after Benji and Cat, who’s too distracted by running beside Benji and looking at him to watch their way, while Beck, Jade and also Jasper stay inside and probably set up with their parents again.  
One of their parents of course is still missing, who is expected: Jade’s father. But he’s coming now.  
They call Benji to the side as the car comes to a stop at the side of the street. Mr. West gets out of the driver’s seat and a woman, who must be his wife and therefore Jade’s stepmother, from the passenger’s side.  
“Hello,” Mrs. West says, as she sees all of them, then says to Benji, as she steps closer, also a present in her hand: “Happy birthday, Benjamin!”  
Benji has stopped and now waves to her with a bright smile; obviously his birthday with all the wonderful present make him the happiest boy in the world.  
Mr. West just greets them with a curt nod, while they all say something, then he also tells the young boy to have a happy birthday.  
It’s Robbie, who then says: “I guess this means that everyone is here and we’ll eat soon. We probably should go inside.”  
“That means you have to get off of your new bike,” Tori gently says to Benji.  
He looks at her as if she has suggested a horrible thing: “No!”  
Okay. However anyone will ever manage to get him inside, where he isn’t allowed to ride his new bike, without making him scream.  
But Cat promptly does: “But you’ll get another present inside.”  
She points to the present in Mrs. West’s hands and Benji promptly tilts his head, looking at it curiously.  
Mrs. West smiles. “Yes, you’ll get this from you grandpa and me. Come on.”  
She holds out a hand and he shortly looks around, finally pushes the bike to Andre, whom he seems to trust the most with it this very moment, then he takes the offered hand and allows Mrs. West to take him inside, who smiles happily about it.  
Mr. West waits for the group of friends to go after her, before he follows, Andre taking the bike inside with them again, before it can get stolen outside.  
Everyone else is in the process of putting the food on the table, at least the salads and what else you eat cold, and to check if everything is done, when they come inside.  
Greetings are shared again and Mrs. Oliver decides that they can also get the rest of the food then, so they can eat directly, as it’s finished cooking anyway.  
She, Mr. Oliver and Ms. Anderson walk back into the kitchen with Jasper quickly following, as Benji now expectantly turns to Mrs. West, not having forgotten about the present in her hand.  
She hands it over to him now and Beck squats down behind him to help him a little bit with unwrapping it. Though he does manage on his own pretty well this time.  
As soon as he sees the presents, Mr. and Mrs. West have given him, he grins happily. It’s watercolors and big papers to use them on.  
“Is it the brand you asked for?” Mrs. West asks, anxiously looking at Beck and Jade.  
Beck nods with a smile, standing back up: “Yes, it’s exactly that. Thanks! We read that he can eat these if he wants to, without poisoning himself.”  
Jade runs her fingers through the boy’s hair, adding with a smirk: “Though he should grow out of his oral phase soon anyway, shouldn’t you?”  
Benji notices that that last part was directed at him and promptly answers, still taking a good look at his new watercolors: “No.”  
Ms. Anderson has come back in the living room by now and puts the first of the warm food on the table and now says: “Well, if he comes anything after his mother, he will stay in it for a little while longer.”  
Jade immediately glares at her mother, who doesn’t seem to care so much. Tori shares an amused look with Andre, but when Jade then also glares at every one of her friends, Tori knows nobody will ever comment on this ever again. It can be fun, teasing Jade a little bit, but it’s not worth it if you will get killed for it, which her glare is now promising.  
Beck smiles though and quickly kisses her temple, before he turns back to Benji and takes the new presents carefully out of his hands: “Let’s start with this after dinner, huh? We’re all hungry.”  
Benji lets it happen and also lets his mother pick him up and seat him on the booster seat on one of the chairs. Benji will eat from the table, not a seperate tray, attached to the seat.  
They all get seated with Mr. Oliver, Mrs. West and Jasper bringing the rest of the food. Beck and Jade take the chairs on either side of Benji. Tori ends up between Cat and Andre.  
They start eating and... well, yes. Tori thinks it is a little awkward. She doesn’t really know Beck’s or Jade’s parents and now they are all sitting together and it’s silent and... well...  
Then, Mrs. Oliver turns to Mrs. West and asks her: “How is it going with work and taking care of our little grandson?”  
Mrs. West shortly glances over to Benji, whose plate Jade and Beck have filled, before they have cut everything up, so Benji now can use the fork himself and doesn’t need help.  
“It’s okay,” she answers. “As I said on Christmas, he can do more and more by himself and it might get easier because of that, but it’s getting harder for me every week to work the afternoons and evenings. I’m just more of a morning person. But it’s only three months left – and I also don’t want to complain as we would’ve had the choice to say he has to go to preschool or something instead of keeping the care in the family for the first two to three years.”  
“It probably would’ve been easier though if one of us would have just given up our jobs,” Mrs. Oliver says, sharing a look with her husband, possibly a little guilty or something.  
Tori looks to Jade and Beck and sees them also sharing a glance, maybe even guilty as well.  
“Don’t say that,” Ms. Anderson hurries to say. “You are the ones enabling the three of them to move out after graduation, who will pay for the apartment then. At least, if they behave like responsible parents should.”  
She looks over to them strictly and Tori instantly looks down to her food. She knows Ms. Anderson refers to their Wanko break-in and she feels terrible about that as it is. She’s thankful that Ms. Anderson doesn’t say any more about it, doesn’t mention how bad it is for Beni, what a bad example they all have set for him, instead she continues: “And you are the ones, who started the college fund for Benji.”  
“Money isn’t everything though,” Mrs. Oliver gently says and Ms. Anderson smiles: “But we shouldn’t kid ourselves: It is a big part of raising a child.”  
As Mrs. Oliver doesn’t protest there, she does apparently agree.  
Tori wonders how uncomfortable Jade’s father and his wife must feel while Mrs. Oliver and Ms. Anderson talk about all the thing they have to take care of considering Benji, while they, as Tori understands, don’t do all that much if anything.  
But now, Cat pipes up: “I didn’t know Benji already had a college fund. That’s wonderful!” She leans over Jade, who she’s sitting next to, to address the little boy: “Are you excited to go to college some day, Benji?”  
Benji tilts his head as he chews the salad he just has put in his mouth and just looks at Cat. Jade also watches her son and smirks: “I think he’s excited for his next nap, but nothing else.”  
Tori wants to add that he’s probably also excited to play with his presents again, but then Andre already says: “I wonder what he will study one day.”  
“Probably something artistic,” Robbie says. “Look at his parents.”  
Okay, Tori has to agree there: “He will be an amazing actor either way, no matter what he’ll study. And singer. And should be quite decent in a lot of other arts.” Like dancing, photography and painting, in which each at least one of them is also good at.  
Jade raises her eyebrows at Tori though. “Decent?” Okay, she totally ignores that Tori just complimented her indirectly, without a doubt called her an amazing actress and an amazing singer next to calling her also more than decent in other arts. But that’s Jade.  
Luckily, Beck distracts her by running his hand through their son’s hair amused and saying: “I bet he won’t be an artist at all. He probably doesn’t want to have anything to do with it after he watched us rehearse and everything since birth.”  
Mr. Oliver now cuts in: “Though he does love it, whenever you two perform something for him. A song or a scene or anything.”  
Tori wonders if they do that often at home, also in front of Beck’s parents or how else Mr. Oliver knows.  
Mrs. Oliver smiles: “Well, in any case... I think you should focus on getting your own careers started before thinking about Benji’s. As long as he starts school some day and does good there...”  
“Which he probably will,” Ms. Anderson put in. “He’s a smart boy.”  
“He is,” Cat agrees happily and Tori nods though she has no idea how two-year-olds normally behave, how they normally speak and how Benji does compared to his age group. But Benji is great and Tori just can’t help to be impressed by the little boy that grows so fast.  
Ms. Anderson also seems to think about his age now and says: “I can’t believe he’s already two years old. I remember it like yesterday that Jade told me about the pregnancy.”  
Mrs. Oliver chuckles: “Oh, yeah. We” – she implies her husband – “just talked a week ago, about how we still have nightmares of that day.”  
“Oh, me too,” Ms. Anderson agrees and Jade and Beck don’t seem guilty about that, Jade smirks instead. Tori wonders if they also still have nightmares about it. Because as great as it’s now going with Benji and everything... it naturally was a shock at first and they must have been afraid and must have felt sick, Tori can imagine.  
“But I have to say...” Mrs. Oliver says again. “As much as I didn’t appreciate it back then, I am really glad they had him and they kept him.”  
She looks to Beck and Jade with a smile, Beck smiling back at his mother, while Jade gently rubs Benji’s back, who isn’t too interested in their talk, but more in the food still on his plate.  
“I think we all are,” Mr. Oliver says and almost everyone at the table nods, except Mr. West. But he also doesn’t seem like he would say otherwise, like he protests. Jade and Beck don’t even seem to notice it in any case.  
Cat instead speaks up again: “We so are! It’s so great to have him around. You are the best, Benji!”  
“Oh,” Mrs. Oliver suddenly says, putting her own silverware down. “I just remembered...”  
She stands up and walks over to the bookshelf, where she pulls a photo out from over the books and hands it to Ms. Anderson and sits down again, after she has said: “Yesterday, I thought about Christmas and how you took that photo of Benji and I told you I think I had the exact same of Beck. This is it.”  
“Oh, my god,” Ms. Anderson says and her eyes light up as she looks at the photo. “That is the exact same photo. That could be the exact same kid.”  
Jasper, who sits next to his mother, of course now also grabs the photo to look at it and also smiles as he sees it, looks up to Benji and back down to the photo: “That’s really Beck? They look exactly the same.”  
Ms. Anderson lets him take it fully and Jasper hands it over to Robbie, who sits on his other side. Tori is glad. If it gets passed around, there is a good chance, she will get to see it too, and she definitely wants to. It’s Andre next and then already her.  
Mrs. Oliver meanwhile relativizes, but amused: “They do look totally alike on this photo. But not so much otherwise. Benji’s hair obviously is Beck’s and that’s the reason why their pictures fromt the same age look so alike at first. But Benji also has so much from Jade and both families in general, I think.”  
Tori guesses, that could be true. Though undoubtedly, as she sees the photo of a young Beck, sitting on the couch in this living room, looking thoughtfully inside a book that he definitely isn’t able to read yet, he totally looks like Benji. It could be just a photo of Benji.  
But the hair does do a lot. The hair, through which Jade runs her hand another time, just that moment.  
Beck meanwhile smiles: “Yeah, we don’t look too much alike.”  
After Tori, Cat gets the photo and of course hands it to Jade, who also takes a look and then shows it to Benji, saying: “See, that’s your daddy, when he was little.”  
Benji furrows his eyebrows, looks at the photo, then to Beck, before he decides: “No.”  
“Yes, that’s me,” Beck tells him as he takes the photo himself and passes it along to his parents, who then also let the Wests take a look.

They don’t eat that much longer. As a dessert, there is of course the birthday cake waiting that Ms. Anderson made.  
Mrs. West is the first to say how great the food was and Tori of course promptly agrees, also wants them to know she appreciates the great food.  
They all help unset the table, getting everything at least back in the kitchen, before Ms. Anderson brings the birthday cake back into the living room, two candles lit on it. And they finally sing Happy Birthday to the small boy, who is excited to see the burning candles.  
“You have to blow them out and make a wish,” Beck explains as the cake is closely set before them and he helps him to stand up on his seat, so he can reach it better, standing up himself.  
Benji immediately starts blowing. He doesn’t blow straight forward though, but instead up his own nose. Of course the fire on the candles doesn’t even flicker.  
“I’ll do it,” Cat promptly says, standing up herself to do so, obviously excited to get the chance to blow candles out. Tori immediately draws her back on her chair though and Andre also quickly says: “It’s not your birthday.” You can’t just blow someone else’s candles out, especially a child’s.  
But Benji still isn’t successful, so Beck asks: “Do you want somebody to help you, baby?”  
“No!” he answers. “Alone!”  
He tries blowing another time and finally, Jade speaks up again: “How about you tilt your head down like this?” She shows him and he copies her, so he’s now not just blowing up his nose but the candles are in the same direction. But he can’t blow that far, so Jade stands up, picks him up, holds him closer to the cake, over the table, saying: “And get a little closer.”  
And finally, they flicker and then are out. They all applaude, Andre even cheering with a grin and Benji raises his fist in a winning pose as Jade puts him back on his booster seat. “Did it!”  
“Yes,” Jade agrees. “You did. And all by yourself.”  
That makes Beck smile and promptly pull Jade in a kiss over their son’s head.

They all eat cake with Mrs. West asking Ms. Anderson what’s the recipe and Ms. Anderson explaining, then everyone, but mainly the grown-ups, talking about Benji again and his habits at the moment, before Jade asks Benji: “Want to get back to playing?”  
The boy nods and Jade lets him down. He runs to the coffee table, all of them watching, and then just stays there and sighs.  
“I think he doesn’t know with which to play. He has too many new things,” Beck says with a smile.  
“Poor Benji,” Cat says with a pout, as if that was an extremely bad thing.  
Mrs. Oliver answers: “He’ll figure it out. Though, he probably has to go to bed soon. All this excitement must have tired him.”  
Tori, Cat, Andre and Robbie don’t get to see anymore if the excitement has tired Benji too much. They help to clean up the table again, before Mr. Oliver gently mentions that they probably should go home soon – and should make no detours on the way as the Olivers apparently have promised to call their parents as soon as they would leave, as they are grounded and only allowed to be out for this. Welp.  
Beck thanks them for coming, Mrs. Oliver does as well, then they leave.


	19. The Hambone King and Three Girls and a Moose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this chapter comes a little early. I'm on a trip for the weekend and am really glad that I got this done before it. And after this, it's only two more chapters to go. Wow. I'll also manage to upload those in time, I think. :)  
> This chapter is about two episodes. I've cut another one between them, which would have been Opposite Date. And after Three Girls and a Moose, Cell Block would follow. I'll also cut that, so the next chapter will start with a very short version of Tori Fixes Beck and Jade. ;)  
> Everyone have fun reading! Always love to hear what you think.

It takes a while, until all of them are not grounded anymore. It’s about the same time for all of them, except for Jade and Beck, who also haven’t been grounded per se, but apparently their parents still don’t feel like taking Benji at the moment if it isn’t for school. Which Jade claims is dumb, as they did the Wanko’s thing with Benji after all. But that means that Beck and Jade can’t go anywhere together without Benji, which Jade is in a bad mood over as there is a horror movie coming out, she wants to see badly. They naturally can’t take Benji with them, but apparently, Jade also doesn’t want to go on her own.  
Cat offers to take Benji, so Beck and Jade can go together, but Beck says that their parents probably also wouldn’t want that and after the Wanko’s incident is still so close, they both don’t feel like fighting with them at all.  
But finally, Andre gets the news that he’s allowed to go out again and offers Jade to go with her as he wants to see the movie sooner or later as well and they agree on that. That lightens Jade’s mood considerably, so that Andre’s rewon freedom does her good – Andre as well as he promptly is excited about it.  
Tori hopes Cat’s freedom will also do her some good. She has taken up tap-dancing during her grounding and she herself may think that’s great – her friends don’t think so at all and hope deeply that she finally will get away from that as soon as she’s allowed to go out again.  
But Robbie also has taken up a new hobby as Tori only finds out when they are finally all ungrounded again. He’s taken up hamboning. Tori can’t believe it. Why does hamboning have to come back into her life?  
She hopes Robbie will just get over it soon and is happy that he is ready to go out with her and Cat that evening, while Andre and Jade go to the movies and Beck has decided to stay home with Benji.  
But at Nozu, hamboning doesn’t stop coming up and Tori flees to the restroom but then can’t bear to go back. She briefly notices that Jade and Andre have come to Nozu as well after the movie but have decided to not sit with Cat, Robbie and her. But otherwise, she only sees Gerald and Merl. Of course, Gerald had to show up sooner or later while they are on the topic of hamboning. And Tori doesn’t feel ready for this.  
She leaves, but goes back eventually to face him after all to find that he has left and has out-hamboned Robbie, has humilated him like he has her.  
She tells her friends to come back to her house and leaves them on the couches in the living room to find a video of her and Gerald hamboning, so they’ll believe her when she tells them.  
When she walks back into the living room, Trina has just come home – and Beck and Benji are there. Benji sits on Jade’s lap while Beck has taken the spot next to Robbie, who weirdly suddenly has a watermelon in his arms. Well... Whatever...  
Tori wants to get started with the video, when Trina walks by her and innocently states: “Seems like there’s nowhere else for me to sit.”  
And she’s actually about to sit down in Beck’s lap. As if Beck and Jade sitting apart in the room already means, she can somehow get to Beck.  
But it’s not just Jade, who states a clear “no”, before Trina actually gets to sit down, it’s also Benji, at the same time.  
Benji goes further though. While Trina has already been in the movement and therefore sits down and Beck pushes her off, Benji wriggles free from Jade, so she has to let him down, and walks over to Beck to climb on his lap. As if to make sure Trina won’t sit there.  
“Fine. Then not,” Trina spits out and leaves the living room for her own room altogether, with Jade glaring after her, then smirking in the direction of her son and finally turning back to the TV.  
Only then, Tori gets to show the video and tell the story. It’s Andre who suggests her to have a hambone off with Gerold, but she can’t do it as she hasn’t hamboned for years. But Robbie asks her to at least train him and... she can do that.

Everyone is there for the hambone off, even Benji in Beck’s arms.  
Robbie does good – until Merl cheats. Of course he does. And before she knows what happens, Tori is hamboning herself against her former hambone partner Gerold.  
And she wins, despite Merl trying to cheat again. She actually wins!  
Jade takes Benji as Beck and Andre lift Tori high. They go to Tori’s afterwards to have a victory drink, then everyone goes home again.

 

Beck’s parents are ready to take Benji again, so Beck and Jade can go out alone. They allow them one evening and night off and Jade makes sure that that isn’t the one where the benefit-show for the boys’ restroom takes place. Naturally, Benji won’t be able to come as well, as they have planned it to start at 9pm on Saturday. Undoubtedly, everyone would also like Jade to be there, Andre even would like her to sing back-up for him, together with Tori, but Jade decides that she rather wants to have time with Beck alone on Friday evening and take care of Benji herself instead on the benefit-night, and Beck is fine with that.  
Tori thinks Jade made a wise choice when she hears that Robbie called the show Tinkle-Aid. Great. That’s nothing Tori feels she could invite anyone to, like a nice guy she might meet until then or something.  
She does meet a nice guy, only shortly after she gets to know that the show will be named Tinkle-Aid. It’s Thursday afternoon and they all stayed in school a little while longer because all of them had something to do one way or another. Except Beck apparently, who is nowhere to be seen when Tori asks everybody else to go eat at Nozu. The boys rather want to go to Karaokie Dokie, but Cat, Jade and Tori overrule them, so it’s Nozu.  
They are about to leave with Jade pulling out her phone, when Beck shows up with Benji.  
“Hey,” he greets and while they all wave back, Benji has found Jade with his eyes and reaches out his arms for her: “Mommy.”  
“Hey, baby,” she says, putting her phone away again; Tori guesses she would’ve texted Beck otherwise, where they are going – it rarely happens but it does that one of them picks up Benji and comes back to school because they still both have stuff to do there (and they don’t want to bother Jade’s mother with having to bring him by), but then the friends go eat somewhere and one of them naturally has to inform the other over text, so they can either join with Benji or at least know otherwise. She takes Benji out of Beck’s arms into her own.  
Tori addresses Beck: “Will you come to Nozu with us?”  
“Oh, I can’t,” Beck says, though Tori would’ve expected him to naturally agree. “My friend Moose just got here from Canada and I not only picked up Benji, but him as well.”  
“You have a friend named Moose?” Tori asks confused. That’s a weird name.  
Beck nods: “Yeah. I haven’t seen him since feeferdoon.”  
“What’s feeferdoon?” Cat asks and Tori definitely also has never heard that word before, just like Andre and Robbie, judging by their expressions. Jade meanwhile rolls her eyes slightly.  
Beck answers: “Oh, in Canada, that’s what we call kindergarten.”  
Okay, that’s just weird.  
“So, where’s Moose?” Robbie asks and Beck says: “On the roof, taking pictures of the Hollywood sign.”  
Of course, if he hasn’t been here before. They have an amazing view on the sign, especially on the roof. Beck apparently hasn’t gone up to look for them instead, possibly to hand Benji over to Jade.  
Well, but as soon as this Moose is done taking pictures, maybe Beck and he want some food too, so Tori says: “Well, the two of you can join us at Nozu.”  
“We’ll think about it,” Beck says with a nod and the others are ready to leave with that.  
Jade and Beck just share a kiss, before Jade says: “I’ll take Benji with me then.”  
Beck looks like he wants to agree and possibly say good-bye to his son again, but then he looks past Jade and all of them, and suddenly says: “Oh, here he comes.”  
Tori turns and... wow. That’s Beck’s friend Moose? Unbelievable.  
“Oh, hey, y’all,” he says as he comes up to them and Tori instantly feels like she could swoon over him.  
“Guys, this is my friend Moose,” Beck says as he steps next to him. And instead of introducing all of them to him, introducing Tori to him, he just makes a gesture to Jade: “This is Jade, my girlfriend and Benji’s mother.”  
Naturally, Moose must have already met Benji earlier if Beck picked them up in the same ride and have brought them to school together.  
“Ah, yes. Hi,” he now says as he looks at Jade with a smile that’s to die for. Then, he turns to Beck: “It’s great to finally meet both of them after everybody in our hometown talked about them for the last two years.”  
Beck also smiles. “Well, if we would’ve reached out to each other sooner again or would’ve kept in touch all those years, I would have definitely introduced them some time when we visited my family.”  
Okay, and it’s not necessary for them to say anymore on that topic, right? Jade is introduced, so Moose now has met Beck’s new family, and it’s Tori’s turn to introduce herself, which she does, stepping a little closer to the cute boy: “Excuse me. I think we also haven’t met yet. I’m Tori.”  
“I’m Cat!” Cat is quick to put on, also seizing her chance.  
“You want to go eat sushi with us?” Tori asks him. She has to make sure to spend more time with him.  
“I’m not into eating raw fish,” Moose answers though. “I’m more of a burger and fries guy.”  
Well, and that’s not a problem. They also can eat burgers. Cat totally agrees, when Tori says that, and suggests Karaokie Dokie, and they both grab Moose and pull him with them.  
Jade might make an annoyed sound, but they all do drive to Karaokie Dokie together.

Inside, there is no table big enough for all of them, but Tori also doesn’t care much about sitting with everybody – as long as she sits with Moose.  
She is successful at that, ends up sitting at a table with him, Cat and Robbie. Robbie almost tries to get Moose’s attention as much as Cat and Tori, but Tori doesn’t have any time thinking about that. This is a clear battle between her and Cat and she knows she has to win this.  
She asks Moose what he plans to do while he’s in LA, to know if she has room somewhere to do something with him. He answers that he wants to take a look at the house where they filimed his favorite scary movie.  
Of course, Tori asks what that is and he says: “The Scissoring.”  
Not a second later, Jade has come from the other table, has pushed Robbie away and taken his place.  
“You’re a fan of The Scissoring?” she asks, sounding more excited than Tori often hears.  
Well, she must have heard the title from the other table somehow and as she does love that movie so much and probably barely ever finds someone to talk to about it, someone who’s equally into it, she of course directly comes over.  
Benji has been taken by Andre meanwhile, who remains sitting at the other table with Beck, Robbie now joining them.  
“Oh, yeah,” Moose confirms.  
Jade promptly claims: “First of all, I love that movie more than I love my own mother.” That’s a strong statement. “And I know exactly where that house is. I even know how to sneak in the backyard.”  
Okay, Moose is definitely interested in that. But Jade can’t hog him. She can’t fully take him in. She already has a boyfriend she loves, and she must notice that Tori and Cat are into Moose and should give them some room.  
But if she doesn’t, Tori will bring attention to herself again, despite Jade. She calls the waiter to make sure Moose gets his hamburger, but the waiter turns out to be a very beautiful waitress that makes Moose lean forward attentively. No, she can’t serve them. Cat and Tori do manage to get another waiter for them and they can finally order.  
Cat and Tori of course still try talking to Moose, trying to get his attention, and it finally annoys Jade so much, that she leaves their table again. Promptly, Robbie rejoins them instead.  
They don’t eat and talk as long and as much as Tori would’ve liked to get more involved with Moose. And when they leave, Moose actually turns to Jade: “So... Can you take me to the house?”  
She has Benji on her hand by now, him walking out of Karaokie Dokie on his own. “Absolutely,” she answers.  
“I’ll come too,” Cat says, before Tori can but she nods to show she also will.  
“You guys won’t,” Jade tells them with a glare though. “I won’t stand you behaving ridiculous around that set. If you follow us, I will reenact that movie with you.”  
Okay. Tori has no trouble believing it, and therefore lets Moose go for now. Beck and Benji do join Jade and Moose though. And Tori decides that she can use that time to think of something to get to Moose.

She has done some internet research. Or a lot of internet research.  
Now, she wears an LA King’s sweater and hopes so bad that Moose will show up in school sooner or later, for at least one break or lunch or something. Beck and he probably do want to spend time together, don’t they? Though Beck seems weirdly attached to Jade again this morning, keeps her so close as if he hasn’t seen her for some time. But well... They do have phases like that.  
And Moose actually does show up. Tori finds him in the main hallway, standing with Cat, Jade and Andre. Cat has flowers in her hands and Tori is sure she made Moose bring them to her somehow.  
Well, but that doesn’t make Moose like her any more – unlike Tori’s pretend love for hockey. Moose is instantly drawn into her as they excitely start talking about hockey. Cat and Jade make sure to say that she obviously made the shirt over night and isn’t truly a hockey fan, but she tells Jade to shut up and Jade is annoyed, but doesn’t say anything more about it. She also shouldn’t care.  
She rolls her eyes and is about to leave, Andre quickly joining her as this obviously also isn’t something for him, Tori and Cat trying to impress Moose, but Moose stops Jade: “Hey. You still have to show me those original scissors out of the movie.”  
“I’ll bring them to Beck’s on the weekend,” Jade says.  
Tori knows, Moose stays in a guest room in Beck’s parents’ house. Apparently, he wanted to come to LA either way and was ready to book a hotel room but Beck’s parents insisted.  
“I gave her those scissors for Christmas,” Cat pulls the attention to herself. Of course, she and Tori both get what Jade and Moose are talking about. Jade must have told Moose about those scissors out of The Scissoring on the set of the same movie.  
Well, but Tori can’t have them talk about that movie any more, because she barely knows it. Instead, she now pulls out her winning card to get Moose’s attention back: two tickets for an LA King’s game tonight.  
And finally, Moose is all hers. They agree on watching that game together in the evening and she’s excited for it the whole day.

She doesn’t get the game at all, but she also doesn’t care. She just hopes she can talk about it well enough afterwards that it sounds like she understood and was into it, because Moose agreed to come over to her place after the game.  
They have barely arrived there and started talking when Moose leaves for the restroom and Cat barges in and accuses her of Moose-hogging.  
Tori manages to send her away at first, pretending Moose isn’t there, but Cat can be so much smarter than you give her credit for and comes back because she knows Moose is there after all.  
Moose finally says he should spend time with Beck and... well... they can also all spend time together though Tori would’ve liked more time alone. But promptly, they take Moose to Karaokie Dokie, Trina joining them, who has walked in and of course also is immediately attracted to him.

At Karaokie Dokie, they don’t find Beck, just Robbie and Andre, preparing for Tinkle-Aid. And Tori only now remembers that it’s Friday and that Beck’s parents were willing to take Benji and therefore, Jade and Beck are spending time all alone. So, Moose can’t spend time with Beck after all.  
She wants to tell him that, while Trina already has drawn him to a table and occupies him totally, when Andre and Robbie walk up to Cat and Tori and ask them where they’ve been.  
Well... Yes, they both were supposed to prepare with them for their performances. But there is still time tomorrow, isn’t there? Right before the performance?  
But they say they have found other people to do it and Tori actually feels bad. Because she hates the feeling to be replaceable, but also because she knows, Andre and Robbie actually hate to replace them but had to do it because they weren’t there. And that just because of some boy that will leave the day after tomorrow again anyway.  
Tori feels extremely guilty as Robbie and Andre leave them just standing there, and also doesn’t stop Moose as he passes them, saying he really should look for Beck to spend time with him.

Cat and she spend the rest of the evening together and also much of the next day to prepare something to make it up to the boys. All three of them put much work into Tinkle-Aid and they feel bad for having let them down.  
They now perform for them at their show, and they and everyone else really like it. And they forgive them, so it’s all good again.  
Another classmate goes up the stage after them, while Tori and Cat sit down with Robbie, Andre and Beck.  
Beck then suddenly draws his eyebrows together and asks Tori: “Where is Moose then, if he isn’t occupied by you two again?”  
Tori shrugs. She also would’ve assumed him being here as he wanted to spend time with Beck.  
Beck pulls out his phone, stands up, takes a few steps away, into the corner, slightly away from the action, and calls him.  
Tori sees his face change slightly as he talks on the phone and when he hangs up and puts the phone back in his pocket but keeps standing there and doesn’t come back, she walks over to him and asks: “So? Where is he?”  
She is a little afraid that something happened to Moose. Beck’s look is kind of dark.  
“He stayed with Jade,” Beck says without looking at her.  
“Oh, he did?” she asks, but doesn’t see what’s so bad about it. They obviously do get along rather well, while Jade usually hates everybody.  
Beck continues, but not in a way as if he’s talking to Tori, more to himself: “She’s staying in the RV and she got herself something to eat in the house, where he walked into her, and now they’re apparently sitting together in front of the RV and talk, while Benji sleeps inside.”  
“So?” Tori asks unsurely. That’s good, right? It’s always good if Jade is okay with somebody. Beck should be glad as Moose is one of his friends.  
But Beck doesn’t say anything more about it and just leaves. Tori instantly follows him. Something’s wrong with him and she feels like she should watch what he’s doing.  
She gets into his car with him without him complaining and they drive together to Beck’s house in silent. Tori glances to him every once in a while, but he never looks back. She isn’t sure if she should ask him what’s up. He really looks kind of weird and like she has never seen him before.  
Moose and Jade do sit in some chairs in front of the RV, which door stands open. They are talking when Beck and Tori pull up and get out of the car.  
They stand up though when they see them and Jade narrows her eyes at the both of them: “What are you two doing here?”  
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Beck retorts and may sound calm but there is a harsh undertone in his voice. Tori doesn’t get it at all.  
Jade has heard the undertone as well and she’s never one to take harshness from anyone, so she pointedly answers: “I’m taking care of our son, if you forgot. You should be at your dumb Tinkle-Aid thing.”  
“As should Moose,” Beck answers, now also looking at his friend, who seems as confused as Tori.  
Jade now gets it though, as far as Tori gathers. “Beck. You know nothing is going on.”  
Wait. Nothing is going on? Why does Jade need to say that? Does Beck think there’s something going on? Is Beck... jealous?  
Beck doesn’t listen to Jade, but finally addresses Moose: “What are you doing here?”  
“I told you on the phone that we just got into talking,” Moose answers with a shrug. “And sorry, Beck, but I wasn’t too interested in your show. Talking to Jade about The Scissoring sounded like a nicer evening.”  
Beck looks at Moose so darkly that Tori actually gets nervous and a little afraid. She has never witnessed this before, has never known it could happen, has never expected it.  
Jade raises her voice again, saying in a careless tone to Moose, only glancing at him, otherwise keeping her eyes steady on her boyfriend: “You probably should go inside.”  
Moose seems unsure, but he knows something weird is going on and that it probably is the best for him to leave the situation, so he says: “Okay. Nice talking to you though.” And he leaves for Beck’s parents’ house, Beck’s eyes following him.  
Finally, Jade talks to Beck again, now even harsher: “You have to me kidding me, Beck!”  
“You have to be kidding me!” he retorts, his voice raised like it does so often, when they truly fight. Oh, boy.  
She crosses her arms in front of her chest. “Why?”  
“He’s obviously into you,” Beck claims and... that’s not true, is it? Tori put so much work into all of this and does think she won Moose over a little bit. It’s not like it counts. She shouldn’t get that crazy about a guy and pretend for him. But still...  
“He isn’t,” Jade also states clearly. “And I might remind you that you’re constantly around girls attracted to you.” But to be fair: Jade also always makes a big deal out of it, though it’s also not Beck’s fault, just like it wouldn’t be Jade’s fault if Moose would in fact be into her.  
Beck doesn’t seem to care, maybe doesn’t even really listen to Jade. “Are you into him, too?”  
“You are not asking me that,” Jade says with a dark look.  
“Come on. You are nice to him,” Beck reasons and that is a valid argument, in Tori’s opinion. Jade truly has been nice to him from the get-go and never has said anything bad to him, as far as Tori has heard. Which is incredible, considering Jade.  
“I’m not,” Jade claims though, angrily. “I don’t hate on him, because we do share a same interest and because he’s your friend.”  
Beck responds: “You allowed him to spend time with us yesterday when we explicitly wanted to spend time alone.”  
Oh, wow, really? Tori raises her eyebrows in surprise. Yes, she remembers that Moose wanted to look for Beck yesterday though Beck and Jade wanted to spend time alone. She didn’t know that he actually succeeded in spending time with Beck. She wouldn’t have thought Jade would ever allow anyone (except possibly their son) to intervene in her alone time with Beck.  
But those words make Jade even angrier and she shoots back: “Because I didn’t know before, that he would be visiting over these days, but I did know you wanted to spend time with him.”  
So she actually gave up on her alone time with Beck for his benefit? Because they also can have time alone on other days while Moose won’t be here for too long? And that after she didn’t get to spend any time alone with Beck outside of school since the Wanko’s thing?  
Beck doesn’t say anything. He must know, just like Tori does, that this is proof of Jade’s enormous love for him, and how can he accuse her for that?  
She takes a step closer to him, when he keeps silent, and tells him quietly but insistently: “You know I’m usually into you being like this, but this time it’s even more ridiculous than ever before. He’s your friend and wouldn’t even try to get onto me. And look at Tori and Cat. They are into Moose. I’m certainly not. As if I could be into someone with a name like that.”  
The dry comment in the end makes Beck finally smile again, as he takes the last distance between them and takes her hands in his. Innocently, he states: “You could be into Canadians in general.”  
“Wow,” Jade makes unimpressed. “I should break up with you because of that.” Instead, she kisses him. “Now, go back to your stupid show, before Benji wakes up and starts crying and I make you take care of him.”  
“I think I’ll rather stay,” he answers and kisses her again, before he turns back to Tori, speaking to her or even noticing her the first time again since they are here: “Maybe, Moose can drive you back. You guys can take my car and he can bring it back then.”  
Jade smirks. “You just want to make sure, he won’t come back to talk to me again.”  
That’s why he wants Moose to take Tori back, not so much for Tori’s benefit. Tori can believe it.  
He kisses her again, before he casually says: “Moose and I definitely will spend tomorrow without you until he finally leaves, so he won’t get another chance to see you.”  
That makes Jade roll her eyes, though possibly amused. “You are so annoying sometimes.”  
Yet, they kiss again before they finally break fully apart and Beck says to Tori: “I’ll ask him to drive you.”  
Then he walks to the house. Jade and Tori both look after him for a moment, before Jade crosses her arms again in front of her chest and turns to Tori herself: “And what are you doing here?”  
Tori quickly explains: “He just had a really dark look after he talked to Moose on the phone, so I thought I should stay with him. I had no idea what was going on.”  
Jade seems to consider for a moment, if she should believe that, then: “Well, as you can see, he can get jealous, too. Yeah, he’s the one flirting all the time and also getting jealous. It’s ridiculous.”  
And still, it looks like Jade also likes it. Not like she would ever provoke it, quite the opposite. But as if she does enjoy Beck getting jealous over her as well. Which Tori can partly understand – though she herself guesses a relationship is much healthier without jealousy. But Beck and Jade are fine with the way it is, it seems to work for them, so...  
Beck doesn’t take long, then he already comes back with Moose again. He doesn’t even hesitate, walks right up to Jade and puts his arm around her. That seems like possessive behaviour. Tori weirdly almost has to smile about it.  
“I hope I didn’t cause anyone any trouble,” Moose says, who already has Beck’s car keys in his hand.  
“You didn’t,” Beck makes sure to say. “I already told you I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me. But it would be really awesome for you to drive Tori back, so I can spend some more time with my beautiful girlfriend and our son.” Naturally, he uses the words ‘my girlfriend’ and ‘our son’, instead of using their names, emphasizing his and Jade’s relationship.  
“Sure,” Moose now says and then, Moose and Tori are on their way, though Moose apparently hasn’t wanted to go to Tinkle-Aid.

“So, was Beck jealous, or...” Moose raises his voice after he and Tori have driven in silence for about three minutes. Beck can’t actually have explained too much to him inside the house.  
“Apparently, he was,” Tori answers, because she can be honest with Moose, who is a friend of Beck’s as well after all. “I never before saw him like that. It’s so weird.”  
Moose glances over to her, before he shrugs: “Well, he should watch out. I can imagine a lot of guys going after her.”  
“You can?” Tori asks surprised. Not that Jade isn’t attractive and anything but... well.  
“Sure,” Moose answers. “I think all American girls are kind of crazy and she surely is too, but... she’s different. Different than every other person I ever met.”  
Oh, wow. Beck has been right after all. Moose really is into Jade. Maybe, Jade isn’t into Canadians, but Canadians into Jade or something.  
But anyway... So, Moose thinks American girls are weird. And he isn’t too off about that, if Tori thinks about her behaviour over the last two days. She needs to say it: “I’m sorry, Cat and I were so weird. But we really liked you. I don’t even like hockey though.”  
“You don’t?” Moose asks surprised and as Tori shakes her head in shame.  
She’s glad when they are finally back at Karaokie Dokie and she can get back to her friends. And on Monday, everything is back to normal. Though Tori never will forget that Beck actually gets jealous, too.


	20. Tori Fixes, One Thousand, Robbie Sells, Bad Roommate, Slap Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I’m nervous. The second to last chapter. The next one will be the last. Suddenly, it goes so fast. O.O  
> I cut one episode out of this chunk of them, Brain Queezer should have been between the last two of this chapter. It isn’t in this fic at all. And yeah, all the other episodes are only referred to quite shortly all in all. The song Jade sings here during Tori Fixes Beck and Jade might be a little different than in the actual episode, but I think the message is the same over all. ;) (I haven't written anything about it, so you can imagine yourself.)  
> Now, everyone, have fun with this chapter!

Two events are coming up at Hollywood Arts: the Full Moon Jam and the Cow Wow Dance, on weekends following each other.  
Beck and Jade consider which one to go to. Apparently, they can’t make both. Tori assumes that’s because their parents are still not willing to take Benji too often when not necessary, and both events are starting too late to take Benji with them.  
Andre asks though: “Are you sure your parents won’t let you do both? They are not on the same weekend. Have you asked?”  
They are sitting at lunch the Monday before the Full Moon Jam, over a week after Moose has gone back to Canada.  
Beck puts his arm around Jade as he answers: “No. Probably, they would take him, as he should sleep through most of it anyway. But there’s still so much coming up and we’d also like to spend time alone again and we think we should only go to one of those. The question just is, which one.”  
“Getting an outfit for the Cow Wow sounds like fun. I can see now what you should wear,” Jade tells Beck, which makes him actually smile.  
It’s great so see them like this again. They have had a few fights during last week, though Tori would’ve assumed them extra close after that Moose-business. But well... Beck and Jade just work so differently. They are back close now though and it’s good to see.  
“So, will it be the Cow Wow?” Cat asks curiously, directed to Jade: “Will you sing your song there?”  
“Which song?” Beck asks surprised. Tori also doesn’t know about any song, but with Jade that’s not so unusual for Tori. It is probably for Beck.  
Jade doesn’t look as if Cat wasn’t supposed to talk about it or anything, but calmly answers: “I wrote a new one and thought about singing it at one of the events.”  
“How come I don’t know anything about that?” Beck asks.  
That must be weird as they do spend so much time together, with Benji and everything. And Beck not noticing her writing a whole new song? While Cat knows about it?  
“I’m just that good at sneaking things past you,” Jade says with a smirk.  
And while Tori knows, her and Andre’s and probably also Robbie’s curiousity is sparked, it’s Beck again, who asks: “What’s this song?”  
“Yeah, right,” Jade just answers, then: “Anyway... I don’t think they’re still looking for acts for the Cow Wow or that it would fit mood wise.”  
“Then, we’ll go to the Full Moon Jam,” Beck decides without hesitating, and making sure, talking to Andre: “You told me Sikowitz just asked you again who else could perform there, right?”  
Andre nods and Jade smirks yet again: “You’re really desperate to hear the song now, huh?”  
“I am,” Beck agrees, not ashamed in the slightest.  
And they kiss and only break apart again, when Cat happily raises her voice again: “You’ll love it. I heard it already. Jade sang it when she was over at my place yesterday.”  
Tori hasn’t known that the two of them met up yesterday. And she feels a little bad that Cat got to hear this song while she didn’t even know it existed. Yes, Beck also hasn’t heard about it up until now, but as far as Tori can gather, the song is for him in some way or another (why else should Jade have sneaked it past him until now?), so...  
“Don’t say anything about it,” Jade says to Cat in a threatening voice, which makes Cat just giggle this time.  
And Tori has to ask: “Why haven’t I heard anything about it?”  
“I wonder,” Jade just says dryly and yes, Tori is offended. They are friends after all.  
“I also haven’t heard anything about it,” Robbie says and Jade rolls her eyes, before she quite harshly says: “Can everybody get back to their own lives now? Gosh.”  
“Sure,” Andre easily says. “Wanna hear about the new song I’m writing?”

They have a calm week, which isn’t usual for Hollywood Arts. Jade does get herself backup singers for her song – she asks neither Tori nor Cat though. And Beck apparently takes more care of Benji at the moment on his own, so Jade has the time to rehearse for it.  
Tori doesn’t get this song thing at all. It must be a song Jade prepares for Beck, but Tori has never experienced that before. She has never witnessed Jade doing anything for Beck more than getting him a coffee or something. And even that rarely. Though over the week, she does remember how Beck told her that Jade has gotten him and her a pair of their necklaces without occasion, and that she does make presents like that. So, maybe this is just the first time Tori witnesses – and possibly the most public “present”, Jade has ever given as the whole school will hear this song.  
Towards the end of the week, Robbie takes the butterfly of his sister to school and it somehow gets into Cat’s ear. So it’s the usual crazyness after all.  
Finally, it’s time for the Full Moon Jam. Jade is the first one up and Beck’s name isn’t in the song at all, but of course it’s directed at him and written for him. It’s so raw and beautiful and Tori can understand Beck’s smile so well, when she looks over to him. He doesn’t see anyone else than Jade while she performs, and she only shortly takes everybody’s applause, before she’s down the stage again and they lie in each other’s arms and kiss.  
They disappear for a while right after that, but come back and the whole group of friends spends some time together – after Cat luckily finally lost that butterfly with the help of Andre’s grandmother, whom Andre had to bring as she had another paranoia attack but his parents weren’t available. He brings her back home half way through, so it’s the six of them and a nice evening after all.

 

Tori also buys a new outfit that weekend, going shopping with Trina and Cat, for the Cow Wow during next weekend. And suddenly, she has no money anymore for other important stuff, like jeans and a purse she saw while shopping, new make up and special cheese.  
Luckily, Andre has an idea for how she can get money. He has worked for a while now at Yotally Togurt at the North Ridge Mall and they launch a new product there and are still looking for someone handing out free samples on Saturday.  
Tori is more than ready to do so. She is a little worried that she will miss the Cow Wow – that Andre and she will both miss it as he promises to work the Saturday then as well. But he says, they will easily make it to 9pm and therefore will still enjoy the dance and especially can do the song they planned on doing there for a long time now.

Her costume is horrible, as are the berry balls she is supposed to hand out. Gosh. She would like to quit right away, but Andre reminds her of the money and... how bad can it go?  
There are of course a few kids running away screaming because of her. Great.  
And after half the day is over, she sees familiar faces. It’s Beck, Jade and Benji, who walk into the food court of the mall. Or Benji rather rides. He’s actually on his balance bike.  
Jade and Beck don’t have Benji’s bag with them (Tori assumes they have it in the car though), but both carry each a shopping bag instead.  
“Benji, please stop,” Beck now says and Benji obeys and then looks around curiously.  
Soon, he has noticed Tori but he isn’t the only one. Jade comes to halt next to her son and smirks as she sees Tori: “Wow. Thanks for making me come in here with you, Beck. This is worth it.”  
“You look... different,” Beck tells Tori. As if she doesn’t know that. “Why the weird costume?”  
“That’s what the boss wants,” Tori states helplessly and turns to Benji, who may look at her sceptical, but: “At least, he’s not crying or screaming. Wanna try one of these, Benji?”  
She offers him the samples, but he scrunches up his face as he looks at them: “No! Yucky!”  
Jade puts her free hand on his head, still smirking: “You’re right. Those things and Tori both look yucky.”  
And with that, she steers Benji in the direction of one of the tables, where she sits down and makes Benji sit down as well, taking the bike.  
Beck walks further to the counter of Yotally Togurt, where Andre works and now greets him. Beck probably plans to order for all three of them, but... he’s nice. And Tori has to try: “Beck? Will you take some of these out of my hands?”  
“No,” he also says though. “I’m sorry.” He seems amused as he turns back to Andre and does order.  
Tori walks over to the table with Beck, as soon as Andre has given him the ordered yogurt, and puts the berry balls down there for a moment, as she asks Beck and Jade: “So, why are you here?”  
“What is it your business?” Jade asks, as she accepts her yogurt from Beck without a thanks.  
Okay, Jade’ll never be able to just answer a question like that, will she be? Beck does, though: “We just bought a few new clothes. For us for a change, not for Benji.”  
He runs his fingers through his son’s hair. The boy has started eating right away and doesn’t even look up now, is too interested in the sprinkles on his yogurt.  
“You did buy a shirt for him,” Jade dryly notices and Beck smiles: “You saw it though and I decided it was too cute to not take it with us. And Benji begged me for it.”  
The way he said it and Jade smirks at that, Benji hadn’t had an opinion about it at all.  
They share a kiss, when Andre also approaches their table. There is noone else just about to order or coming inside.  
He directly addresses Benji and actually makes him look up: “And, little buddy? Do you still love your new bike?”  
Benji glances to his balance bike, which Jade has leant against herself between Benji and her. Then, he looks back to Andre with a bright smile and nods: “Yes!”  
Andre and Tori can’t help, but smile as well. Gosh. Seeing Benji happy is everything.  
“He rides it whenever he can,” Jade says and Beck agrees: “Yeah. We have to take it everywhere. We were already in the park in the morning and he had to ride it there. Now here in the mall...”  
“That’s good,” Andre says with a grin and Tori has to agree there. It would’ve been disappointing if they would have given Benji something for his birthday and he wouldn’t have used it at all. Which probably happens a lot when you give something to a child, but... luckily not with their present for his second birthday.  
New customers come in at that point and Andre walks back over to the counter, while Tori takes a deep breath, takes the berry ball samples again, takes a “good luck” from Beck, then she’s also with the new customers and tries to get them to take some of the samples.  
Beck, Jade and Benji only stay for their yogurts, then they leave again with Benji telling Andre and Tori both good-bye, while he’s already back on his balance bike, guided to the exit by Beck.

The day is unbelievingly long and Tori just lets the berry balls disappear in the end, because there’re just not enough people to take them. But she gets her money and then still has a great time at the Cow Wow.  
Cat has been knocked out by Sinjin. Tori has no idea at all, how that has happened, but Robbie takes care of her in the end and Tori and Andre get to do their song.

 

Tori has organized Mason Thornsmith to come talk to her class on Monday. She still is at Neutronium Records fairly often though her single is long out there. They are already planning on her album and very slowly recording new songs bit by bit, luckily without much pressure. Mason has, after the award show and her successful opening of the same, turned out to be an amazingly nice producer.  
In one of her last meetings, she has asked Mason for this, after many classmates have asked her for pointers to get into the business.  
Mason finally meets Robbie and Rex, invites them to everyone’s surprise, but then wants to buy Rex. Robbie doesn’t know what to do and they all try to help him with the decision in one way or another. He does sell him in the end, but totally looses it and they all worry about him. They help him to get Rex back in the end. (Beck and Jade are not too involved in that, but they also do have a child at home to take care off and probably can’t take too much care off Robbie at the same time, especially when the others are already at it.)

 

After Mason, Tori also succeeds in gettig Kojeezy to their school, who is ready to even buy songs from the students if they are good. Naturally, Tori is excited. Yes, she’s already good to go and has a foot in the door with Mason, but it’s always good to have several irons in the fire. Andre and she both try, and she doesn’t mean to steal anything from Andre, but she does without knowing it.  
He moves into her parents’ house for a few days as he’s with his grandmother at the moment and can’t concentrate. His parents’ house is getting fumigated and while his parents are using the time for holidays, he’s supposed to stay with his grandmother. But he can’t concentrate and Tori thinks he just wants to work at Tori’s and allows him to, when he’s already moved in.  
Subconciously, she must have saved Andre’s notes he played all through the night inside her head, and now she uses them herself. Gosh. She feels guilty about it. But... why not just work together on this? She hasn’t only stolen that theme, she has improved it. And they always work well together, have written songs together before. So why not?  
Kojeezy almost buys their song, but they fail the baby-test. Great.  
“Well, if I ever try to sell a song again, remind me to play it for Benji first,” Andre says, after Tori and he have told their friends all about it at lunch. Both of them are devastated.  
Devastated enough to finally lighten Jade’s mood again, who has been pissed over the last few days since the... PearMaps incident. Tori has only followed that from the sidelines. She is glad she hasn’t gotten involved in that, as she’s sure everything would’ve been her fault then. Yesterday, they have apparently succeeded in getting a new photo done for PearMaps, which lets it appear though as if Robbie and Jade are kissing. Robbie is extremely jumpy since then, which Tori gets because Jade may have strangled him directly after, but she also would count on more revenge.  
Well, Jade’s smile at Tori’s and Andre’s bad mood makes her almost wish she would’ve laughed more about Jade on PearMaps. She probably won’t seize the chance later to laugh at Jade seemingly kissing Robbie – as she’s sure Jade also would hurt Robbie for that again and she doesn’t want to risk that.  
Robbie meanwhile is at ease again, as he sees Jade smirking, and easily says to Andre’s statement: “He isn’t too much of a baby anymore, though, is he? He’s two now.”  
Which means, playing the song for him, wouldn’t be a baby-test – not to mention that also babies probably all react differently to certain kinds of music.  
“That’s true,” Cat earnestly says. “Though he’s still as cute as he was as a newborn.”  
Beck smiles at that, then says: “And I don’t think it would’ve been of any use. Benji has loved every song you have written up until now. At least those he has heard. I bet he also loves this one.” Which means that yes, they still would’ve presented the song exactly like that and that baby would still have cried, even if Benji wouldn’t have.  
Andre sighs, but then suddenly asks: “Can we come over and play it for him?”  
Jade dryly answers, exactly what Tori is thinking: “That wouldn’t change anything about Kojeezy’s judgement.”  
Andre nods: “But if I would see him all happy about our song, it would make me happy, too.” Okay, Tori understands that and when she now thinks about it, she feels the same. If Benji would beam about their song, she wouldn’t feel so devastated anymore.  
Jade and Beck share a look and Jade rolls her eyes, which makes Beck smile and put his arm around her. Then, he actually says: “We can probably bring Benji over to one of your places.” As Jade doesn’t protest, they have possibly silentely agreed on that just now.  
And of course, Beck doesn’t offer them to come over to Jade’s or his place. While he is open to spend time with their friends much more often than Jade, Tori can imagine that he also likes it better at someone else’s place, so they can leave when it’s eough for them, instead of having to throw everyone else out. Not to mention that they don’t have to take care of cleaning up behind everyone else. And possibly, he also doesn’t want to go on their parents’ nerves, who already do so much for them. But they couldn’t do it in Beck’s RV or in Jade’s room, if they want to actually perform.  
And they definitely also don’t want to do it around Andre’s grandmother, so Tori can understand Andre turning to her and asking: “Can we do it at your place?”  
“Let’s all meet up and make a party out of it,” Cat says excited and why not?  
Tori’s parents are always extremely good about it. When they are home, they are okay with being in their room while Tori has her friends in the living room, as long as it doesn’t happen daily. It only happens rarely that they absolutely don’t want to have anyone over because one of them is sick or something, but usually, Tori is free to invite anyone, so she now also says: “Sure. Today?”  
Everyone has time today, so they agree on that.

Andre comes with Tori right after school again, though he doesn’t stay over at Tori’s place anymore. But they want to prepare everything for their little get-together. Tori’s mother and Trina are home, when Tori and Andre walk in, but they planned to go shopping anyway. Usually, Tori would’ve liked to come; that’s of course not happening now.  
Cat and Robbie already arrive, when Trina and their mother finally leave. Not too long after, when they are all set up, Beck and Jade also arrive with Benji.  
“Hi,” the little boy says as he walks in on his own, waving to all of them.  
Cat runs up to him and squats down next to him. “Hey, Benji. How are you?”  
“Good,” the boy answers easily, lies his hand on Cat’s knee as if to make sure she won’t leave, while he looks around.  
Cat smiles brightly and takes his hand in hers, standing back up. “Andre and Tori will sing a new cool song for you. They really want you to hear it.”  
“Okay,” Benji says and walks with Cat to the couch. Andre and Tori have turned both of them around, so it’s possible to sit there and sitll look to the piano. Yes, Andre will play the guitar, he brought, for this song, but Cat has said they should make a party out of it, which means they will all make a lot of music and of course, someone will play the piano sooner or later.  
Beck and Jade sit down on the other couch, closely, while Robbie sits down with Cat and Benji, Benji sitting between them and almost making them look like a family – though of course Benji doesn’t look anything like them.  
“Okay, we hope all of you like it,” Tori says, as she steps in front of the others and Andre sits down on the bench in front of the piano with his guitar.  
Andre cuts in: “But especially you, Benji.”  
“No pressure though,” Jade promptly says, rolling her eyes, and yet seeming somehow amused. Yes, okay, it does mean kind of pressure if you tell someone that you really want them to like something you made. But Benji is young enough that he won’t care much about what others expect from him – not to mention that he’s Jade’s son and probably also will just outright say the truth later in life, without feeling too bad about it.  
Andre and Tori sing their song and when Robbie and Cat clap their hands, Benji imitates them, watching their hands closely and laughing.  
“Did you like it?” Andre then asks the important question. Well... He didn’t cry during it, was attentive through it all and did smile every now and then – okay, Tori also did walk up to him a few times and touched his tummy or even tickled him, to definitely keep his attention on them.  
Everyone looks expectantly to Benji, who nods: “Yes.”  
Andre grins while Benji stands up and walks over to him, but only to promptly grab right into his guitar.  
“Benji. You know you’re supposed to be careful around instruments,” Beck says, but not all that sharp or warning.  
Benji looks around to him as he plucks one of the strings with Andre not intervening, then he says: “Daddy sing.”  
“You want me to sing something?” Beck asks and Benji nods.  
“Well, you heard him,” Andre says with a grin and steers Benji slightly to the side, so he can stand up and hold the guitar out for Beck without hitting Benji with it on accident.  
Tori is also more than willing to give up the stage for Beck. He shrugs, shares a kiss with Jade, then stands up and walks to the front himself.  
Andre takes Benji and sits down next to Jade, where Benji promptly climbs over to his mother, while Tori sits down next to Robbie on the other couch.  
They make a game out of it. They ask Benji again and again, whom he wants to sing next and sometimes he says their names, sometimes he just points. They also start asking him if someone should join that person and he says yes most of the times and also decides on the person, which is funny, because suddenly Jade and Robbie end up singing a song together or Beck and Cat.  
Benji is less interested in all of it than everyone else, especially when the combinations are so unlikely. But he always is into the music and as soon as Cat draws him onto his feet for faster songs and makes him dance with her, he always does dance as best as a toddler can.  
They have amazingly much fun and also order something for dinner in between. Trina and Tori’s and her mother are back home and long up their rooms, when Beck and Jade decide that Benji has to get into bed and they therefore have to end it.  
Neither Tori nor Andre even remember their bad mood from the morning though – and Jade also seems to have forgotten all about PearMaps. So, everything is great.

 

They have to film a short film during the next week. They were able to choose their groups themselves and as all of them are in that class, they of course have gotten together.  
To not have Benji around, they decide to do at least part of it in the school before first class – as Jade’s mother always is ready to take him then apparently.  
But they don’t get around to do it. Trina has told Tori about her followers on TheSlap and she can’t believe it. She can’t believe that Trina has so many followers and she has so much less than her. Yes, she has of course kept her profile on that site though it’s more for students of Hollywood Arts. But everyone, who has left since the site is up, still entertains their profile there, and some even still get newly followed by freshmen when they slowly start their careers and the young students know them because of that. But Trina? Despite her very few and small roles... Not many at Hollywood Arts know or like her. How can she have so many followers and Tori, who deems herself well-liked, so little?  
She tells her friends about it and promptly, they are in a big follower war, as they all compare theirs for the first time. It honestly gets a little ugly like Beck posting videos of him washing his car almost half-naked and Jade threatening everybody in school to follow her.  
Tori can’t help but actually be impressed by the two of them though at lunch one day. Cat tweets everything she does and says by now and Tori calls her out for it, which Cat again just tweets. It’s after that, that Cat apparently suddenly gets an idea and looks excitedly up to Beck and Jade: “Oh, I should just post pictures of Benji. Everyone will follow me then. How did I not think of that...”  
But she gets harshly interrupted by Jade: “You won’t post pictures of him. If anyone would ever do that, it would be Beck or me.”  
Tori hasn’t thought about that at all. Yes, posting photos of little Benji probably would get everyone a lot of attention. He is a cute child.  
But Jade and Beck once again don’t use him though it would be so easy.  
Tori can’t tell them though how much she even respects that, because at that moment, Robbie arrives at their table and calls Cat out for his tweet about bimples he’s supposed to have.  
And suddenly, they all get into a big fight, all of them attacking Tori because she supposedly started this follower war.  
She silences them all and explains that she just wanted more followers than Trina, and Sinjin tells them that he hacked the system to get Trina those followers. That explains a lot.  
Then, Sinjin calls them out for their fight and... yeah, how did this happen? Why are those followers suddenly so important for them? It never has been before. And isn’t it more important that they have each other than thousand followers?  
They do agree on that in the end (though Jade of course has to pretend that the both of them aren’t friends) and they only now remember that they still have to do the short film until tomorrow morning. A film, for which they had a whole week... Now they don’t even have a full day. But they think they’ll still be able to do it.

They aren’t. Well, they have a film ready the next morning, but it’s so incredibly bad. Benji even is in a few shots, as they have accidently taken some of those he is in though they have shot the scene more times – or because they haven’t ever gotten a shot without him for other scenes. Benji of course was there for filming the afternoon and evening before. And they have told him they would play hide and seek for the scenes everyone of them were occupied with their character or holding the camera. He did hide for some of those shots – though sometimes he’s even visible for those. He is only two; he doesn’t know how to hide well.  
But Benji being visible isn’t by far the worst thing in that movie. Naturally, their teacher calls it the worst one she has ever seen at their school, and all of them are so damn embarrassed.


	21. Star-Spangled Tori and Victori-Yes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Whaaaaat? This is the last chapter? Yes, it is. Thank you so incredibly much to everyone for reading, for the bookmark, the kudos and the comments.  
> A user on fanfiction.net asked for some prequel scenes a while ago - and out of that grew a whole prequel story with Jade being pregnant and everything. I will just proofread the first chapter one last time and then, that will also go up. If you like this story, I would really happy to also see you there. :) (It will be named "How they got there".)  
> Gosh. When I finish up long stories, I always get a little sad. That's definitely also happening now. I'm happy at the same time though. And satisfied that I was able to finish it well in time and everything.  
> Now again many thanks to everyone and feel free to tell me what you think about this story. :)

Finals are close-by, when Tori gets the gig to sing the national anthem at the Northridge basketball game on the evening of Thursday.  
The day before, she already wants to make sure, she knows all the lyrics – and finally understands them as it’s so much easier to memorize them then.  
Jade starts with it, saying she could mess up so easily, and suddenly, everyone is on her case and making her nervous. Yeah, because she needs that, because that won’t make her really forget the lyrics. She hasn’t considered that before; or at least hasn’t been afraid of it, because mistakes happen, though she naturally also would want to sing the national anthem without any mistakes.  
Now, she’s nervous and afraid that she will forget the lyrics, and learns even more.  
The lyrics aren’t the problem in the end though. It’s that damn mascott dog that drags her over the floor. She does her best to finish up the song, but she knows, even before she finally gets rescued, that everyone will laugh at her for ages.  
Her mother takes her back home and they barely exchange a word. Tori is so embarrassed, feel immensely humiliated. It gets even worse though, when she walks inside the house and not only finds Trina sitting on the couch closer to the door, but Cat sitting on the other one, Benji standing next to her on it, and Andre, Beck, Jade and Robbie all coming up to stand behind it, when they notice Tori.  
Gosh. Everyone except Benji says something semi-happy, as if to pretend everything went great, then Rex says though: “Haha. You got dog-dragged.”  
Robbie has sat him down onto the back of the couch. Benji promptly turns to him and grabs him happily. While usually, Robbie always makes Rex snap if someone handles him like that, Benji is always allowed to do so, is allowed to touch him roughly, to pull his arms, just to play with him, with Robbie having Rex react sweetly, like Robbie himself usually would.  
But Tori doesn’t care too much about it now. “Why are they all here?”  
“Mom invited them,” Trina answers, defending herself.  
Tori turns around to her mother hopelessly, and she rubs her arms: “I just wanted your friends to be here to congratulate you and celebrate. I didn’t know you would mess up the song.”  
She makes clear that she didn’t mess up the song, only to have Jade then tell her that fifty people have already posted the video of that desaster online. Great. And Jade naturally is amused about that.  
Cat meanwhile asks why she didn’t finish singing the national anthem, before being dragged by the dog. Oh, Cat.  
She lets herself sink face forward onto the couch as she finally says: “Oh, I must have looked so ridiculous.”  
“Well, here, I have it cued up on the DVR,” Trina says. “Have a look.”  
“No, I don’t wanna have,” she quickly says but Trina has already put it on and she sees herself being dragged by that dog on TV. It has looked ridiculous. Gosh.  
And Benji starts laughing. He has promptly turned to the TV as Trina has turned it on, and now he laughs about Tori in the situation, which makes Jade grin brightly and Robbie actually make Rex laugh, too.  
Tori glares at them, which makes Rex instantly shut up, then say: “Tough luck.”  
Beck has meanwhile quickly pulled Benji into his arms and now whispers: “Hey, baby. Sh. Don’t laugh. Look at Tori and how sad she is.”  
Benji does stop laughing, but only looks at Tori curiously and not like he’s sorry at all.  
Tori sighs, sinking her face back onto the couch. “I feel so embarrassed and humiliated.”  
“Well, this has been a great party,” Jade says, sounding satisfied.  
It’s Cat, who has enough insight: “Guys, I think Tori wants to be alone.”  
“Yeah, maybe we should all go,” Andre agrees and Tori is glad they are about to.  
She feels them touching her, hears a few encouraging words. But she also hears Jade, talking to Beck: “You can directly take Benji home. I’ll get a ride with Robbie.”  
Apparently, Benji sleeps at Beck’s place at the moment. But why shouldn’t Beck take Jade home?  
“Me?” Robbie asks surprised, also hasn’t known about this arrangement before.  
“Yes,” Jade just answers.  
Beck also can’t understand what’s going on, but he doesn’t ask further, instead: “Call me later, okay?”  
“Sure,” Jade answers and then suddenly: “Hey, you want me and Robbie to give you a ride home?”  
Tori only knows that she is talking to Cat, when Cat answers, as she herself still has her face burried in the couch: “Yeah. You can just drop me off at school.”  
“School?” Jade asks sceptical and Robbie adds: “It’s about to be nighttime.”  
“Wow. You sure know about time,” Cat just answers and then, they must be out the door, with the other already gone. At least, Tori finally hears the door click close, before she feels her mother’s hand on her back and hears her mother saying: “I’m so sorry.”

Everyone in school makes fun of her the next day, including Sikowitz. She feels terrible. Until Andre and Beck walk up to her and show her a video of Chris Burm in his talk show, inviting her to show her talent.  
Of course, she wants to go there. Beck and Andre say they don’t trust him, but what does she care? It can’t get any worse than this, can it?  
She calls Burm’s team and already gets invited for the next day, probably because they want to get her before the hype calms back down. They will tape in the morning and Tori is able to seat Beck and Andre in the audience. They insist to come with her to make sure nothing bad is going on.  
She also tries calling Mason, but he’s not in the office today. She’s sure he wants to have something to say about in which talk shows she appears but... he also must be happy if she can rectify the embarrassment from last evening.  
The talk show does go great, though Andre and Beck tell her afterwards that they are the ones making sure of that. Burms did want to humiliate her even more.  
They tell her on the way to school, where Robbie, Jade, Benji and Cat are at it to pack Cat’s things together above the Blackbox Theater.  
They have to explain to Tori what’s going on, that Cat moved here when her parents moved away with her brother for his therapy, that she didn’t know where else to go, when she didn’t want to stay with her aunt and uncle. She hasn’t heard anything about that over yesterday, but she also has been caught up with her own things once again.  
Beck and Andre have known, but Jade took care of it, has called Cat’s parents and has made sure Cat was able to stay with her grandmother, she is close to anyway.  
Apparently, they now have driven up to her, all while Tori has been at the talk show, have talked to her, and have driven back to get all of Cat’s stuff. From school and from her aunt’s and uncle’s home where she was supposed to stay at first.  
They all help now, Benji also carrying a few small things to the car, which always makes Cat hug and kiss him and squeal happily. Well, she hasn’t been like this over the last few days. Something has been wrong. Tori understands that now and sees how relieved she is and how she’s just her own self again.  
Mason calls in between, in his office today, and talks to her about the dog-dragging and the talk show. He promises he also would’ve made sure that nothing bad would have aired by Burms. But now, they’ll insist of him airing the song she did on the show, which is great.  
She feels extremely happy, as she sits with all of her friends the evening of Saturday in Cat’s grandmother’s house, her having moved in, and all of them eating a great meal her grandmother has prepared for all of them.

 

It’s on the Friday before finals that Sikowitz first asks them to do a play in a nasty bus and then under water. And when they all say they won’t do anything like that, he calls them out for it. He even says, he’s gonna quit then and naturally, he just pretends to, but when he says it a third time, Tori finally stops him and asks him what he wants them to do.  
He says they are supposed to be more open minded and then dares them to say yes to everything they get ask for the rest of the day. Well... They can try.  
Though as soon as the bell rings and they know, Cat is about to ask them if they also want a Pajelehoocho, she has bought 144 of for free shipping, they of course quickly run – only Robbie not being able to leave fast enough.  
Trina is also in school today, but just to brag in front of everybody about the new TV show, she stars in. It’s called Divertisimo and apparently only runs in Mexico. She hasn’t even gotten a tape to show Tori or their parents, but naturally she comes back to her old school to tell everyone about her success. (Though Tori knows their parents aren’t too convinced of that success and do want Trina to search for a real job or finally go to college.)  
“Did she brag about it to you, too?” Tori just now asks Beck, when he mentions that he has met Trina earlier.  
“You mean Divertisimo?” Beck says. “Yes, she mentioned it.” Of course that must mean, she didn’t say one whole sentence without mentioning that show; of course Beck easily remembers the name.  
Tori just sighs and then changes the topic: “So, what are you doing tonight?”  
Beck promptly smiles and says almost proudly: “I am going to trick my girlfriend.”  
“Trick her?” Tori asks sceptically. Beck wants to trick Jade?  
“Well... Sorta,” Beck says. “You know how she has to say yes to everything?”  
Okay, Beck has been especially all over Jade lately, while she even uses the breaks by now to learn for finals. She still allows Beck to put his arm round her, but it’s not like she actively wants him to do it like she otherwise mostly does.  
And somehow, Tori’s mind just... goes into that direction when she hears Beck say that, and she quickly turns around, walking to her locker: “I’m not sure I need to hear this.”  
Beck understands, what she’s getting at. “No. No, listen,” he says as he follows her and comes to a halt next to her. “You know how I love drag racing?”  
“No,” Tori answers because she so hasn’t known that before.  
“Well, I do,” Beck simply says. “And Jade has always refused to go to a race with me. She says it’s stupid.”  
“I am with Jade on this one,” Tori says honestly.  
Beck answers: “Don’t care. There’s a big race tonight and Jade’s gonna go.”  
“Oh, because of Sikowitz,” Tori says as she understands.  
Beck nods: “She has to say yes. I had the tickets for a while and just waited for a good moment to ask. My parents are ready to watch Benji tonight, so... I didn’t know a chance like this would arise, but it’s perfect. I will definitely take her tonight.”  
“It worked out perfect for you,” Tori admits, even impressed at Beck’s luck but feeling sorry for Jade all the same. Because Beck hasn’t been able to make her go with him until now, so she obviously doesn’t want to, but she will go now because she never looses a dare.  
But suddenly, Jade is with them and directly addresses Tori: “Hey, Tori. Remember when you asked me to come over to your house tonight to help you make homemade pizza?”  
“Uh, no. Not really,” Tori answers confused.  
“You asked me to do that, don’t you remember?” Jade insists though. “I want you to remember that. Will you please remember that?”  
Has she overheard them? Or what reason is there for her to want to visit Tori of all people so badly? And... well... With her saying ‘please’ and that yes-rule in place...  
“Yes. I remember that.”  
“Great. I’ll be over at your house at seven,” Jade decides and then, she turns to Beck, who seems stunned: “Benji is with you tonight again, right?”  
“Wait,” he finally says. “I have tickets for a drag race.”  
“You never told me,” Jade says, sounding accusing, then she shrugs: “Well, then I have to watch Benji, I guess.”  
“My parents can watch him,” Beck quickly says. He does want to take Jade out after all and has already asked his parents to take Benji.  
“Great,” Jade says once again. “Then, you can go to your drag race and I can go to Tori’s.”  
And with that, she turns back around and leaves. Whoa. She really must hate drag racing if she rather visits Tori on an evening where Beck’s parents will take care of Benji and she could have the time alone with her boyfriend. On the other hand... If she has overhead, she knows Beck wanted to trick her and that also can’t sit right with her. Jade also does things out of protest and now not wanting to go to a drag race even more, after Beck almost got her there... Tori understands.  
Beck seems disappointed and says that he has to go by himself then – obviously wants to safe face in front of Jade and his parents, so he also isn’t going to stay home and take care of Benji now, just so he doesn’t make an idiot out of himself. And at the time of the drag race, it will almost be time for Benji’s bed time anyway, so it’s not like he’s missing important moments with his son then.  
Sinjin steps in now though and Beck ends up going with him.

Jade meanwhile really does come over to Tori’s and Tori makes pizza – only for Jade to order some then. Great.  
Jade also has a few papers with her to learn for finals, but she doesn’t get around to do much. Trina interrupts them to go tape her show again and needs to have her pimple popped first, which Tori manages Jade to do, which is amazing.  
They finally agree, to turn on the TV, but they also can’t agree on a program there because Jade finds everything stupid. Until they see, Divertisimo is actually on, though Trina has claimed it doesn’t run in LA.  
Naturally, Trina claims that, as the whole show is a big joke, how Jade and Tori now notice. This is the best! And of course, Tori is more than ready to drive with Jade to the taping, to catch Trina in the act of filming the show and making a little fun of her, after she has annoyed her for days with the show.  
But instead of having a great time there, Jade gets Tori into that awful show, by forcing her to apply to Sikowitz’ yes-rule. Tori does get her revenge and they both end up being in the show.  
Afterwards, when they dress back into their own clothes, Jade calls her and Trina a lot of bad words and finally says: “I should have just gone to that damn drag race. Ugh. And that’s it for the night both Beck and I have off. Great.”

 

They all passed their final exams successfully and that’s so awesome. Yes, Tori knows this also means that they will soon all go their own ways, that they won’t see each other as often anymore, that this is an incredibly sad moment, but first, they want to celebrate and think about all the good moments, they had, about the great school they went to together.  
It’s before the graduation ceremony. They are already in their caps and gowns. Benji is with them. Beck and Jade plan to hand him over to one of their parents when they go outside and take their places on the stage.  
Right now, they stand together in their group of friends, Jade with Benji in her arms.  
Robbie, Cat and Andre are just now talking about how the ceremony will go, while Tori listens to Jade telling Benji: “Your parents are going to graduate high school today, huh? And then, we’ll soon move together, all three of us.”  
Tori knows they actually have already found a small apartment. Beck has said that it’s nothing much but better than the RV or a room in one of their parents’ houses.  
Benji smiles. “Good.” Tori doesn’t know if Benji has understood, he’s still so little after all, but Jade smiles and kisses his cheek. And Beck smiles as well, watching the both of them.  
Then, he suddenly pulls Jade into a kiss himself, which she returns without hesitation.  
When they break apart, Beck draws Benji out of her arms and lets him down on the floor. “Why don’t you run along to Cat?” he tells the little boy.  
“Okay,” he answers and does run to her and even stretches his arms up to her, so Cat also picks him up again, though Benji does walk and stand more and more on his own.  
And Beck sending Benji away, suddenly also makes Cat, Andre and Robbie listen to him, as he tells Jade, taking her hands in his: “I love you, Jade.”  
Jade smiles and they share a short kiss, before Beck goes on: “I wanted to wait for a more special moment and didn’t want to do it right before our graudation but... Well... I have to tell you: I have fallen in love with you during our first date when you got into a rant about how bad some popular actors are, and I have never stopped loving you, despite all the challenges life has given us. I don’t think I will ever stop loving you. I don’t want to. I want to love you all my life and I want to be close to you all my life.”  
Everyone knows what’s coming. Tori feels her heart beat faster and can’t believe this is happening. Is she actually standing right with them, while it does?  
Beck drops to one knee and that also makes a lot of their classmates turn to them and fall silent.  
“So, I’m asking you,” Beck says with a smile, pulling out a small box from under his gown, opening it and presenting Jade the ring in it. “Will you marry me?”  
He has planned to do it some time today, if he has the ring with him. This isn’t some random idea he has had.  
Tori holds her breath as she looks to Jade, who tilts her head. “Are you only asking me, because we have a child together?”  
Okay, that hasn’t been a yes. Tori expects Beck to jump back up and possibly panic, but he keeps on one knee and calmly says: “Why do you think I sent Benji away just now? Because with or without him in your arms, you’re the perfect girl for me.”  
They look at each other for a moment, before Beck asks again: “So, will you marry me?”  
And suddenly, there is a smile on Jade’s face, so beautiful and honest. “Yes. I will marry you.”  
They are already in a deep kiss before Beck is back up his feet, and Beck puts the ring on Jade’s hand while they are still kissing.  
Wow. Has she just witnessed their engagement?  
“Benji!” Cat squeals, the first one of them being able to speak again, while Beck and Jade still kiss. “Did you see? Your parents just got engaged! Oh, my god. You’ll make such a cute flower boy. Or will he be the ring bearer? Ahhh! I’m so happy for you!”  
And she sets Benji back on the ground herself to hurry forward and hug Jade tightly, when she just breaks apart from Beck.  
“Congrats, man,” Andre says, positively astonished like they all are, pulling Beck in a hug. Tori and Robbie of course then hug Beck as well. Only then, Cat breaks apart from Jade again and hugs Beck as well, while everyone else also congratulates Jade with a hug – with her even hugging back every one of them.  
Beck already picks up Benji again, while Robbie is still hugging Jade.  
Benji has just stood there, watching the happiness unfold. Now, Beck tickles him, making him laugh, and then asks: “Did you hear? She said yes.”  
“To what?” Benji asks curiously. He obviously hasn’t understood what has just happened.  
“To marrying me,” Beck answers with an amazingly happy smile.  
Benji shrugs. “What does it mean?”  
“That means that your beautiful mommy will make me her husband. She said yes to all of me,” Beck explains.  
Benji tilts his head and then says brightly: “You’re happy.”  
“I am,” Beck agrees and kisses his cheek.  
Jade is long with him again at that point and they kiss again, before Jade draws Benji out of Beck’s arms.  
“You’re happy, too,” the little boy notices. Yes, she is. Tori has barely ever seen her smile like that. Jade is truly, truly happy. Well, she’s engaged to the boy she loves.  
“I am,” Jade also agrees with their son. “Your daddy and I will marry each other.”  
And they kiss again, Jade lying her hand with the new ring on Beck’s cheek, then dropping it to his shoulder as they break apart again.  
“When will you get married?” Cat now asks, clapping her hands excitedly. “Can I make Benji’s tuxedo?”  
She definitely has more questions to ask about this, but Jade already cuts through her: “Slow down. I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. Will it?”  
She raises her eyebrows at Beck, who smiles: “I don’t think so.”  
They actually agree on this without needing to speak about it. They just got engaged, but both already know that that doesn’t mean they will have a wedding tomorrow or something.  
Beck continues, putting his arm around Jade: “But it’s wonderful not to have to speak about my girlfriend anymore, with whom I by the way have a child. I’ll be able to talk about my finacée.”  
Jade turns to him, looks into his eyes, smiles that beautiful smile. “Say it again.”  
Beck smiles right back. “You are my fiancée, Jade.”  
They kiss again, unbelievingly sweetly, even making Benji watch smiling, though he must be so used to his parents kissing.  
“You are mine,” Jade whispers.

It’s after the graduation ceremony, that Tori also witnesses Beck and Jade telling their parents who seem surprised but also happy in the end.  
Well, they are together for three and a half years now and have a two-year-old son together. They have stayed together against all odds and they do love each other. Why shouldn’t they get engaged? Why shouldn’t they get married soon?

 

 

They marry each other about two years later.  
Beck doesn’t finish college, but drops out half way through when he gets a job as a series regular in a popular show. Through that, he also does get other bigger acting jobs and is happy to do that full time – and not taking classes next to it, so he can’t see his family anymore.  
Jade meanwhile only takes on small jobs, gets a bachelor of arts and then even goes for a master, though Tori understands that that has been a big decision. That means more costs and probably still her mother paying for part of her life, which she doesn’t like. But after having had a child with sixteen, she does also want to have a high education, to possibly prove to everyone, but also to herself that it’s possible, so...  
They are out of school for four and half years now, all have gone their own ways, but they still see each other regularly. Sometimes, Tori thinks their group could’ve broken apart without Benji. But with a child in the mix and all of them wanting to keep close to him, for him to not forget them...  
It’s great, to still have those friends, even if they all make new ones in their chosen paths.  
Today, they finally all meet up together again, at Beck’s and Jade’s home. It has been Jade’s birthday a month ago. Tori and Andre both haven’t seen her since then, but give her her presents now and congratulate her.  
Beck is still filming, not home yet, while everyone else is already there and catching up.  
Benji is in first grade now and has of course a lot to tell. It’s amazing that Beck and Jade have a child in school while everyone else still are neither married nor thinking about children of their own yet with 23 and 22 years of age. And it’s so weird that Jade isn’t even done with her education, while her son already started his.  
Cat has just now caught them up about her brother’s issues, which they haven’t asked for, but it’s then, that Benji suddenly turns to Jade: “When will I get a sibling anyway?”  
Jade raises her eyebrows: “You want a sibling?”  
“All of my friends have one or more,” Benji says with a shrug.  
And Jade says the things all parents seem to say at one point or another: “And if all of your friends jump of a cliff, you would, too?”  
“Obviously, I would,” Benji states calmly.  
It’s funny, how he’s able to say that. He always takes everything his mother says, pretty calmly and mostly even amused, reminding everybody of Beck. But at the same time, he himself says such sarcastic things sometimes, unbelievingly dry for a six-year-old and so hilarious, much like Jade somehow.  
Jade just looks at him and Benji says: “Come on. I’ll be seven already in three months. And I’m still an only child.”  
“I was as well at that age,” Jade calmly stated.  
Benji narrows his eyes. “So, it’s not important, what my friends do or have, but what you did or had at my age?”  
Oh, wow. Tori can follow that argument. Benji always has stuff like that up his sleeve, thinks quick on his feet and... he’s just smart, which is only natural with Jade and Beck as his parents. They are both smart as well.  
Jade sighs. “How about you let me graduate from college before asking me to have another child?”  
“You will graduate next year,” Benji easily answers, of course also knowing that. “Come on, Mom. Promise me, you’ll give me a sibling soon.”  
“Why do you want one so badly?” Robbie now asks, confused.  
Tori also doesn’t get it. For a moment she wants to mention Trina and say that sisters can be a pain in the ass, on the other hand... She loves Trina and Trina loves her and they always have each other’s back in the end. Having a sibling can be great.  
Benji scrunches up his face: “Because they always say that they want a second child one day, but I don’t want to get a sibling when I’m 20 or like... already have my own children.”  
“Firstable,” Jade gets started again. “You won’t have any children for a long time, because I won’t be a grandmother already in my thirties.”  
That makes Andre, Robbie and Tori laugh. Tori doesn’t miss that Jade made, as far as she knows, her own mother a grandmother in her late thirties.  
Jade continues calmly: “Second of all: It doesn’t matter. You don’t have a sibling to have someone to play or something. And you can be close to your sibling even if there’s a big age difference. Look at your uncle Jasper and me.”  
Benji pulls a thoughful face and suddenly says: “Jasper is eight years older than me. I don’t want to be eight years older than my sibling.” Apparently, that’s already an age difference too big for him, though Tori knows that Benji and Jasper are extremely close as well.  
Jade rolls her eyes. “God, Benji.”  
“You know I’m right,” Benji says confidently though – who knows about what. It isn’t like he has just proved something to Jade, he has just said his opinion.  
Jade doesn’t get to give a comeback, as that’s the moment, the front door opens and Beck comes inside.  
“Dad!” Benji directly says, jumps up from the couch and walks up to him. He still almost always hugs his parents when he sees them after a few hours, which Tori considers beautiful.  
They also hug now, with Beck saying: “Hey, everyone. Hey, baby!”  
“I’m so not a baby anymore,” Benji says, easily though, not like he actually calls his father out for it. He does let his parents still call him that mostly; not anybody else though. He has even glared at Cat a year back, when she has for some reason squealed what a cute baby he is. His glare already has been deathly at the age of five, learning from the best, his mother, of course.  
Beck now also tells him: “You will so stay that forever for me and your mom.”  
He runs his hand through the boy’s hair, before he walks up to Jade, leans down and kisses her.  
Only after, Benji raises his voice again: “I don’t think so. You will have a new baby soon.”  
Beck looks a moment to Benji, processing what he has said, then he spins back around, his eyes widening at Jade. Oh, Tori knows what he’s thinking.  
Jade does too and looks annoyed, as she said: “I’m not pregnant.”  
“God. I swear, this time I wouldn’t have known how it happened,” Beck says, obviously relieved.  
Jade smirks and Tori also has to smile. Yeah, she would be freaked out as well, if she would’ve protected and still got pregnant. Beck and Jade both must feel the same, especially after they had Benji without planning to. They most likely watch closely since then to really protect.  
“She isn’t pregnant yet,” Benji says though. “She just promised me I’ll have a sibling soon.” Which she hasn’t.  
“She so did,” Andre says anyway, amused, which makes Cat giggle, Robbie and Tori grin and Benji smirk because of the support.  
Jade glares at her friends and clearly states: “I didn’t.”  
She turns back to Beck, who still stands next to her. “Though you know... We always only said we would at least wait until I’ll graduate from college.”  
Beck looks back at her and finishes her thought: “Which you will be in less than half a year.”  
“I will,” Jade confirms.  
They keep looking in each other’s eyes and Tori shortly glances to her friends, who all watch Beck and Jade closely, including Benji. Obviously, they now also all know that a big decision is being made. And they are all there for it.  
“I have a stable job at the moment,” Beck says, in a series that will very likely will get picked up again. “If there aren’t any more costs for college, I could probably support a family of four.”  
Jade smirks, grabs Beck by his shirt and pulls him into another kiss. This time, they barely seem able to stop kissing. Beck sinks deeper and deeper onto the armchair, Jade is sitting on.  
It’s Benji, who interrupts them: “You don’t always have to make out.”  
They break apart, both a little breathless.  
Andre seems amused: “Oh, if you want a sibling, they absolutely have to.”  
Tori has to laugh, while Jade raises an eyebrow at Andre: “Do you want to have that talk with him?”  
“No, thanks,” Andre immediately says. Though Tori is pretty sure, Benji already kind of knows where babies come from. But that doesn’t mean they should talk about it any more.  
“Well, congrats to that decision,” Robbie now says, grinning.  
“I hope it will be a girl next time,” Cat meanwhile says. “So you have both. Though another boy could also be cute. Maybe, you’ll have twins.”  
“Imagine that,” Tori says amused.  
Andre is just as amused: “Yeah, three children with like... 24. Sounds like fun.”  
“So fun,” Jade agrees dryly, before she turns back to husband and son: “Now don’t keep standing there like idiots. I guess, one of you can sit with me if you have to.”  
Robbie, Andre, Cat and Tori all sit on the couch, where Benji has sat with them before. Tori guesses, they can also both fit on the couch with them, but it gets cramped then. Next to the couch, they just have that big armchair, Tori is sure doesn’t get used, except by Jade as soon as people are over. Then, she probably likes to take a seat there to not sit too close to everyone else on the couch. She doesn’t always like physical contact except with Beck and Benji. If they have more guests, they take the kitchen chairs to have them seated.  
“I’ll sit with Mom,” Benji promptly decides and sits down, half upon her lap, half next to her with the room, still on the chair.  
Beck meanwhile sits down on the couch.

They keep talking, Beck now involved as well, also catching him up to everything and him catching them up.  
It’s after a long while, that Cat suddenly asks, softly: “Has Benji fallen asleep?”  
It’s evening by now, but not too late. But when Tori looks over to Jade and Benji, Benji does look fast asleep. Jade is absent-mindly playing with his hair, that’s still so much like Beck’s, and he leans against her with his eyes closed.  
“He has,” Jade confirms and Beck also looks at wife and son lovingly, as he explains: “He had trouble falling asleep yesterday, so he had to be exhausted.”  
“He’s still the cutest,” Cat says and Tori has to laugh: “Gosh, I can’t believe you still say that.”  
“Though it’s true,” Robbie says and... well, yeah. It’s true. He’s already six, but he’s still such a cute child and not only that, but also smart and attentive and bright and fun.  
Beck smiles over the compliment about his son, drowns his drink and then asks: “Does anybody want some more to drink?”  
He stands up and they all answer, all actually wanting something more.  
“Me, too,” Jade then says, as he passes her, and he stops for a moment and leans down to her.  
They share a kiss over their sleeping son’s head, like they have done so often before. They are still so much in love.  
And Beck now whispered, still clearly heard by their friends: “I also would’ve loved to sit with you.”  
Jade smirks: “Are you jealous of your own son?”  
“Always,” Beck claims and they share another kiss and another, both smiling.  
Tori can’t help but smile as well. They are still such a beautiful and amazing family, still so close to each other with Beck and Jade taking so much care of their little son. Tori knows, they will also be great parents for a second child. Like they have always been great parents for Benji.


End file.
